“Of course those (refugees) need assistance, but there are more than 6 million IDPs (internally displaced persons) inside Syria, living besieged, living under shelling and bombing”, said Raed Saleh, head of the White Helmets, a group of about 2,800 Syrian volunteers who carry out search and rescue after attacks.
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The London meeting must attempt to raise nine billion dollars for the 18 million Syrians war victims, with the aim of containing the crisis of refugees from the Middle East to Europe, weigh on countries Home.
Meanwhile, it was “military escalations” by the Syrian government that led to the suspension of U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva this week but there is still a “glimpse of hope”, Germany’s foreign minister said Thursday.
Backed by a wave of Russian airstrikes, Syrian government forces have advanced this week against rebel positions on the road to the country’s second city Aleppo.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says his country will accept any Syrian refugees that come, in addition to the 2.5 million already in his country.
Up to $6bn has been pledged for 2016, and a further $5bn in pledged support up to 2020.
In September, Kerry said, US President Barack Obama will convene a summit on refugees on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
But as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry observed at the conference: “The challenge is not to just write checks”.
We are agreed on the fact that it will discuss how to implement the cease-fire, “said Kerry in London”.
Salam will demand that the worldwide community disburses the funds in $2.4 billion increments each year to finance programs that will support host communities and Syrian refugees, a source from the Lebanese delegation told Annahar.
A Syrian girl carries her dolls as refugees and migrants arrive aboard a passenger ferry at the port of Piraeus, near Athens, Greece, Jan. 13, 2016.
Cameron emphasized his country’s keenness to help Jordan to face the repercussions of the Syrian refugee crisis.
Some seventy leaders are expected to attend the conference, the fourth of its kind, including UK Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Germany’s pledge is about $2.69 billion; Britain’s about $1.7 billion.
Jordan in particular has made it very clear that it couldn’t do any more without serious donor assistance, threatening to close its borders to new arrivals of refugees without fresh financial assistance.
Officials from 60 countries were present at the event, dubbed Supporting Syria and the Region, the fourth of its kind since the civil war began in 2011. Syrian peace talks ended abruptly on Wednesday with United Nations special envoy Staffan de Mistura saying “there is more work to be done”.
Kerry blamed Syria’s government and Russian Federation for the peace talks stalling.
The ICRC said the town of 50,000 needs more aid, and it hoped to deliver it in the coming days.
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In December, the United Nations estimated that 97% of Syria’s remaining civilians were being denied aid by the government as a way of maintaining control over local populations – and literally starving them into submission.
