Alwaght- Some 400,000 people have lost their lives five years after the onset of devastating Syrian war, the United Nations special envoy for Syria says.
Staffan de Mistura, in an interview with Sweden Radio Television Suisse (RTS), said on Thursday 400,000 people had been killed in the five-year-old Syrian war.
Speaking on the sidelines of Syria peace talks in the Swiss city of Geneva on Friday, Staffan de Mistura also said the figure was based on his “own analysis” and thus “not verified.”
De Mistura’s figures come while the UN has stopped officially counting the toll, citing lack of access to accurate data.
"We had 250,000 as a figure two years ago,” said de Mistura, adding, “Well two years ago was two years ago".
However, but his estimation comes close to a recent calculation by Syrian Center for Policy Research that estimated at least 470,000 Syrians had died in the war, almost twice the 250,000 counted two years ago by the UN.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. Damascus says Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar are the main supporters of the militants fighting the government forces.
A fragile truce is in effects in the warn-torn Arab country as the UN tries to facilitate negotiations between Syrian government and armed rebels.
Asked whether the talks would continue, Mr. de Mistura said: "We cannot let this drop. We have to renew the ceasefire, we have to accelerate humanitarian aid and we are going to ask the countries which are the co-sponsors to meet."
