Diplomats take lunch break during Syria talks

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: Diplomats and foreign ministers gathered for an official lunch on Wednesday, half way through a day of peace talks on the crisis in Syria.

Earlier Syria's government and opposition angrily spelled out their hostility as world powers also offered sharply divergent views on forcing out President Bashar al-Assad.

The conference has raised no great expectations, particularly among Islamist rebels who have branded Western-backed opposition leaders as traitors for even agreeing to be in the same room as Assad's delegates.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened proceedings at Montreux by calling for immediate access for humanitarian aid convoys to areas under siege.

He urged both sides in Syria to reach a full settlement based on the 2012 U.N. Geneva Communique, under which world powers called for a transitional government. "Great challenges lie ahead but they are not insurmountable," he added.