The UN has called for $US6.5 billion in aid for the expected 4.1 million Syrian refugees in 2014. Source: AAP
THE long-delayed "Geneva II" peace conference for Syria will open in the Swiss lakeside town of Montreux because of a lack of hotel space in Geneva, the United Nations says.
"The international conference on Syria ... will be held due to logistical reasons ... in Montreux," said Khawla Mattar, spokeswoman for UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is trying to organise the conference.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month finally set January 22 as the date for the talks, which have been repeatedly postponed since June.
But a luxury watch fair will be taking place in Geneva at the same time.
The global elite will also begin gathering for the annual World Economic Forum that begins in the Swiss ski resort of Davos on January 22, many of them passing through Geneva.
As a result, the city's hotels are fully booked, leading organisers to look for alternatives.
Montreux was decided upon, Mattar said, for a variety of reasons, including security considerations and the availability of hotel space in the scenic town at the other end of Lake Geneva known for its jazz festival.
The conference centre at the Montreux Palace will only host the first day of high-level talks on January 22, hosted by Ban and including all invited country delegations.
Negotiations between the two Syrian delegations and Brahimi will then continue at the UN's European headquarters in Geneva on January 24, but it has not been decided how long the talks will continue, Mattar said.
Meanwhile, UN agencies have launched what they say is the biggest-ever relief appeal for a single emergency, as they called for $US6.5 billion ($A7.3 billion) in funds for Syrians in 2014.
The UN's humanitarian affairs and refugee agencies said on Monday that $US2.3 billion is needed to provide for people inside the war-torn country, with the remainder for Syrian refugees in the region.
"We're facing a terrifying situation here, where, by the end of 2014, substantially more of the population of Syria could be displaced or in need of humanitarian help than not," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in Geneva.
"This goes beyond anything we have seen in many, many years, and makes the need for a political solution all the greater."
The agencies warned that they were planning for up to 4.1 million refugees by the end of 2014 - of a total pre-war population of 22.4 million.
More than 2.3 million Syrians have so far fled the country since the conflict began in 2011, with more than four million estimated to be displaced inside its borders.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP), one of the bodies participating in the multi-agency plan, separately announced it would feed 4.25 million Syrians next year, at a cost of $US2 billion.
The WFP said almost 6.3 million people in the country needed "urgent, life-saving food assistance".
It pledged to focus on preventing child malnutrition, giving food supplements to 240,000 children aged 6 to 23 months.
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