Frustration at UN ahead of likely row with Russia on Syria aid
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The UN has been delivering aid to north-west Syria through Turkey via only one border crossing.
PHOTO: REUTERS
UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations Security Council will next week discuss if it will allow the UN to deliver aid to rebel-held north-west Syria through more than one Turkish border crossing following last Monday’s devastating earthquake.
The death toll in Turkey and Syria has passed 24,000.
A UN official said on Friday that up to 5.3 million people in Syria may have been made homeless by the quake.
Some diplomats expressed frustration that the 15-member council has been slow to act after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pressed for more action to north-west Syria via Turkey.
But that is a move Russia does not think is needed.
“There is frustration with foot-dragging on this. The Secretary-General said we need more crossings. The UN Security Council needs to step up and get it done,” said a UN diplomat familiar with the discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Since 2014, the UN has been able to deliver aid to millions of people in need in the north-west of war-torn Syria through Turkey under a Security Council mandate. But it is restricted to using just one border crossing.
Brazilian UN Ambassador Ronaldo Costa Filho said UN aid chief Martin Griffiths – who is in Turkey and will also visit Syria – will brief the council next week.
Mr Filho said any action by the body will “depend on an evaluation of the concrete situation on the ground, and it cannot be a gut reaction to what is in the press”.
Following Mr Guterres’ remarks on Thursday and calls by aid groups, the US is pushing for the Security Council to adopt another resolution “that would allow for additional border crossings so that the UN can access areas in need”, said a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Syrian government views aid deliveries across its border as a violation of its sovereignty.
It says that aid should be delivered across front lines of the 12-year-old civil war.
On Friday, it approved aid deliveries across front lines.
Russian Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said on Friday that the existing council mandate limiting shipments to a single border crossing was sufficient and that deliveries across front lines could be expanded to reach people in need.
He added: “We’ll listen to Griffiths when he is back.”
Some diplomats hope the briefing by Mr Griffiths could help convince Syrian ally and veto power Russia to allow council approval of more border access points.
“We will ask for the opening of one or more cross-border points which may be critical in order to save lives,” said a senior UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Some of the member states will need to be encouraged by specific recommendations from Martin Griffiths. This will make it easier.”
The UN has long said that challenges to increasing aid deliveries across front lines include receiving timely security guarantees and approvals and a lack of funding.
UN aid via Turkey reached 2.7 million people a month in north-west Syria last year, compared with 43,500 people a month who received aid from routes within Syria since August 2021.
REUTERS
