Syrian peace talks enter second round as Homs ceasefire extended

The Syrian deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, makes a statement to the media at the second round of negotiation between the Syrian government and the opposition. Photograph: Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA

Syria's government and opposition began a second round of UN-mediated talks in Geneva on Monday but failed to meet face to face, as a fragile ceasefire and "humanitarian pause" in the central city of Homs was extended for three days to allow the evacuation of more vulnerable civilians from a besieged rebel-held area.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the Algerian diplomat chairing the conference, met each side separately to urge them to focus on the two main issues of stopping the fighting, which has killed an estimated 136,000 people, and working out how to set up a "transitional governing body" to replace the current government in Damascus.

In an eight-page document seen by Reuters news agency, Brahimi said: "The two issues are among the most complex and sensitive and both subjects need treatment over several sessions and long discussions."

It remains unclear how he intends to break the impasse over the future role of Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad. Assad has insisted he will not step down, while the opposition says he must go.

Brahimi appeared to signal a more discreet approach by failing to hold a press conference at UN headquarters after Monday's talks, as he did following every session during the first week at the end of January. On Friday he is to meet senior US and Russian diplomats in the hope that Washington and Moscow will exercise their influence with the warring parties.

Outside the Palais des Nations the media war continued. Faisal Mekdad, Syria's deputy foreign minister, said: "We can't achieve a thing until massacres in Syria come to a stop." It would be a waste of time to discuss Assad's departure, he added. The official delegation also presented a document to Brahimi formulating the now familiar demand that "terrorism" – its blanket term for all opposition to the president – must be defeated before political issues can be discussed.

But the Syrian opposition coalition (SOC) issued a report showing that the government has killed more than 1,805 people since the start of the Geneva II process on 22 January. It said at least 834 people had been killed in Aleppo alone by more than 130 barrel bombs. It also referred to evidence released by international human rights groups about the large-scale demolition of entire neighbourhoods with explosives and bulldozers.

"These operations are a war crime," said Monzer Akbik, spokesman for the SOC president, Ahmed Jarba. "They are intended only to punish civilians, and are one more example of the terror which Bashar al-Assad sows across Syria. His time is up – he must leave power and allow us to rebuild what he has destroyed."

The first round of talks had aimed to build confidence between the warring parties by trying to agree a humanitarian ceasefire in Homs but the truce was not finalised until afterwards and was broken soon after it began. On Monday, when the first – repeatedly-violated – truce expired, it was extended for a further three days.

During the day about 300 more people were evacuated from besieged areas of the city, bringing to around 1,000 the number brought out since last Friday. Some food has also been delivered, said Khaled Erksoussi, of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

The SOC said it had expanded its presence in Geneva to include representatives of armed groups in a "military and security team" – an apparent reflection of the opposition's need to demonstrate support from fighters on the ground inside Syria who distrust diplomacy and fear it may be playing into Assad's hands.

In other developments, a third shipment of chemical weapons from the government's arsenal was reported to have left Syria, which could allay concerns that the Damascus government is not complying with obligations that were agreed with the US and Russia last September.

Fighters from the hardline rebel Islamist group Jund al-Aqsa have killed at least 21 civilians and 20 pro-government militiamen in Maan, a mainly Alawite village in Hama province, said the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The government asked Brahimi to condemn those killings.

The jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, which is linked to al-Qaida, was reported to have withdrawn from the eastern province of Deir al-Zour after days of heavy fighting with rival rebel groups