GENEVA, Switzerland – The post-earthquake goodwill that helped unblock help deliveries in Syria needs to be utilized on the political degree to assist advance efforts to finish the nation’s 12-year battle, the UN stated Wednesday.
“The status quo cannot be acceptable,” Geir Pedersen, the UN particular envoy to Syria, instructed reporters in Geneva.
The catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria final month, killing greater than 50,000 individuals, offered a “wake-up call to the world that the Syrian tragedy is far from over,” he stated.
The quake got here practically 12 years into Syria’s civil battle which has devastated swathes of the nation, killed practically half one million individuals and displaced hundreds of thousands extra.
In northwest Syria, the place practically 6,000 individuals had been killed by the February tremor, the immensity of the earthquake tragedy helped shift long-stuck positions to facilitate getting help into rebel-held areas within the northwest of the nation.
More border crossings had been opened to facilitate help shipments from Turkey, and efforts had been made to crank up help deliveries from government-held areas into the rebel-held northwest.
The United States and the European Union have additionally eased sanctions to make sure the help might stream in unencumbered.
Pedersen hailed that “in the aftermath of the earthquakes, humanitarian steps from all sides have moved beyond previous positions, even if temporarily.”
“A month ago, there was no prospect of the opening of more border crossings nor of moves to ease sanctions in a concrete way. We have seen both moves now,” he identified.
What is desperately wanted now, he stated, is for “the same logic that was applied on the humanitarian front to now be applied on the political level.”
“The earthquake in itself has shown that positive steps are possible if there is a political will.”
Pedersen, who has for years been attempting to make progress with a so-called constitutional committee for Syria with little success, warned although that the present geopolitical scenario was not splendid for transferring ahead.
Last July, he needed to indefinitely postpone a gathering of the committee after Moscow balked at it being held in Switzerland, which had imposed sanctions on Russia over its battle in Ukraine.
“The international climate today may make a comprehensive solution impossible,” Pedersen acknowledged.
“As long as the Russians don’t want to come to Geneva, the Syrian government does not want to come to Geneva,” he stated, including that he had had “months of discussions” with each and hoped “we will be able also to see progress on this file.”
Pedersen insisted that “we can make progress”.
“But then we need to see from all sides a willingness to compromise and to move forward in a more serious manner.” — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
