U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said Saturday that a second round of talks in Geneva aimed at ending the crisis in Syria came to an end with little progress made.
The opposition and the government have agreed to an agenda for a third round of talks, but they have not agreed on how to tackle it, he said.
Brahimi apologized to the Syrian people, saying he was "very, very sorry" that despite two rounds of talks "we haven't done very much."
The key sticking point is that the Syrian government wants to talk about tackling terrorism, while the opposition wants to discuss forming a transitional governing body.
Brahimi said he suggested starting the next round of talks with one day of discussion on each issue, but the government had thrown a wrench in the works.
"Unfortunately the government has refused, which raises the suspicion of the opposition that in fact the government doesn't want to discuss the (transitional governing body) at all," he said.
Brahimi said such intransigence was "not good for the process," or for Syria.
Negotiators from both sides should go back to their leaders and reflect on a way forward, he said. "Do they want this process to take place or not?"
Louay Safi, of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, said, "We want to progress on the two sides. We want to be assured that the regime is really wanting a political solution, not delay tactics, and we didn't get that, for reasons that were described by Mr. Brahimi.
"Our heart is in pain, our delegation is in pain, that as we speak here searching for a political solution the regime has chosen to bombard towns and cities killing civilians."
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