EU, US come up short on Syria

Aid agencies expect pledges at a Brussels donors’ conference to be ‘significantly lower’ than last year.

An EU plea for more than $8 billion in emergency aid for Syria met resistance at an international donors’ conference on Wednesday, in the wake of a suspected chemical attack in Idlib that served as a reminder of the world’s inability to halt the conflict despite billions already spent.

The killing of more than 70 people underscored the failure of a ceasefire guaranteed by Russia, Turkey and Iran. But as the world reacted with revulsion, aid agencies warned that pledges from the Brussels conference organized by the EU would be lower than at a similar conference in London last year that raised $12 billion.

“Last year in London, governments made unprecedented pledges to support refugees and Syria’s neighboring countries, and provided additional and multiyear funding to deal with the crisis,” said a coalition of aid agencies, comprising CARE, the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children. “The follow-up at Brussels has not matched this yet, and we expect pledges to be significantly lower than last year.”

The agencies voiced their frustration at the failure to halt the conflict despite the ceasefire guaranteed by the three military powers, notably Russia, which undertook a bombing campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime ally of Moscow. Neither Russia, Turkey nor Iran served as a co-chair of the meeting, nor did their representatives attend a news conference at the event on Wednesday afternoon.

“Yesterday’s appalling attack on civilians in Idlib shows the ongoing horror for people inside Syria and lays bare the mirage of the nominal ‘ceasefire,'” the aid agencies said. “People in Syria need more than the words of concern and condemnation which we heard today — there must now be an immediate, impartial investigation into the attack, and parties responsible must be held to account.”

Officials led by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres put on a show of resolve in their effort to ease the suffering of civilians in Syria and refugees who have fled to neighboring countries.

Privately, however, participants at the conference acknowledged that Tuesday’s attack had added to the sense of hopelessness, particularly when combined with declining interest from Donald Trump’s U.S. administration. Underscoring that, the American government pledged $566 million, a little more than half of what it pledged in London last year.

Instead of focusing on renewed commitments to humanitarian aid, officials including British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Germany’s Sigmar Gabriel were peppered with questions about how the world would respond to the chemical attack. Johnson used a news conference with Mogherini, Gabriel and the foreign ministers of Norway, Kuwait and Qatar to call for wide condemnation of the chemical attack.

“We cannot be certain about what has taken place, but all the evidence I have seen points to the responsibility of the Assad regime for that horrific attack in which children were killed,” Johnson said. “In my view, by the way, it shows the impossibility of that regime continuing to be part of the government of Syria.”

Click Here: cheap nsw blues jersey

The U.K. and France have called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, and Johnson said they would seek a resolution declaring that “there should be a condemnation of that chemical weapons attack, and secondly that there should be a thorough and urgent international investigation.”

But he seemed to be bracing for the possibility of Russia opposing such a resolution, and added: “If we are to get on with the reconstruction [of Syria], there must be a transition away from the Assad regime.”

Asked about Trump’s assertion on Tuesday that the attack was a consequence of the Obama administration’s “weakness” and failure to enforce a so-called red line on chemical weapons, Gabriel responded: “Well, the American elections have been decided and we need to look forward, think of the future of the world and America should commit itself very firmly.”

Moscow should take an active role in moving things forward, said the German minister. “Russia is responsible for clarifying matters, clarifying the situation as soon as possible and doing everything in its power to set underway the political process,” he said.