Humanitarian and ceasefire tracks for Syria 'moving in the right direction' – UN envoy
Source:UN News.
25
February 2016 – International task forces established to ensure
unimpeded humanitarian access and a ceasefire in Syria “are moving in
the right direction,” a United Nations mediator said today, ahead of a
Friday deadline to accept a truce.
Speaking to the press in
Geneva, Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy for Syria, said that
today's humanitarian task force meeting was “useful and effective,”
reporting that humanitarian aid on nearly 200 trucks had reached to
110,000 people in besieged areas and, yesterday, a trial run began for
air drops aimed at reaching another 200,000 people in need. However, he
stressed that “nothing is enough and much more need to be done.”
Tomorrow,
26 February, is a “crucial day,” Mr. De Mistura said, noting that,
following a midday deadline for the acceptance of the cessation of
hostilities agreement, a ceasefire task force will meet to discuss the
modalities. He will then brief the UN Security Council via video link
and will speak to the press to announce a date for the resumption of
intra-Syrian talks aimed at ending five years of bloody warfare there.
If
the cessation of hostilities takes hold, humanitarian assistance would
reach more people not just in the besieged areas but everywhere in
Syria, he said.
The mediator suspended the talks earlier this
month following differences between Government and opposition
delegations on the priority of humanitarian issues. Then, top-level
diplomats met in Munich and agreed on “two deliverables” – one on
unimpeded humanitarian access to the besieged areas and the other on
achieving the cessation of hostilities.
“Both deliverables are moving in the right direction,” Mr. De Mistura said.
The
task forces were established as part of the International Syria Support
Group (ISSG), which consists of the Arab League, the European Union,
the United Nations, and 17 countries, including the United States and
Russia.
Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura (right) and
his Special Advisor, Jan Egeland, make remarks to the press in Geneva.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
Special Advisor Jan Egeland pointed out
that there is still an “active conflict in several areas that is
preventing access.” Noting that a convoy took 48 hours to complete a
delivery of humanitarian supplies to Madimayet, which is within an hour
drive from Damascus, he said “the procedures are too cumbersome, and we
are stopped at too many roadblocks.”
On the trial airdrops by the
World Food Programme (WFP), Mr. Egeland said Deir ez-Zor “is the only
location we cannot, as humanitarians, reach by a negotiated land
access.”
He said “there were two problems; pallets were drifting
with their parachutes, so that some missed their targets, and other of
the pallets, the parachutes did not open and the food were destroyed.”
Mr.
Egeland said WFP is planning to continue the trial period for the next
three months, noting that “the best humanitarian logisticians in the
world are working on how to make this lifeline to 200,000 people in Deir
Ezzor, mostly women and children, work.” He added that “what I hope is
that we continue this momentum, because in a way we have had diplomatic
support the last two weeks in getting access than we probably had
through 2015. We need to have sustained engagement.”
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