ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />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.<br/> <br />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.<br/> <br />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.<br/> <br />United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened proceedings at Montreux by calling for immediate access for humanitarian aid convoys to areas under siege.<br/> <br />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.
