US, Germany Collaborate to End Human Suffering in Syria
Affirming a strong commitment to end the Syrian crisis, the United States of America and Germany agreed to cooperate on issues on alleviating human suffering by reinforcing delivery of humanitarian aid in the war-besieged nation.
In his remarks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Washingto DC, Secretary of State John Kerry said one issue that both countries are obviously going to talk about is Syria. Both nations have worked very closely on moving forward on delivery of aid especially in conflict-besieged zones.
“First, it has made possible, for the first time in years in some cases, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to some communities that have been under siege for even years.” – Secretary Kerry
Through cooperation in this area, it has already resulted in direct aid being passed on to 116,000 people that they count already.
In addition, the UN hopes to reach 1.7 million by the end of March; that is to say, within the month we are entering, 1.7 million people, providing they can keep this process under control.
Both nations are determined to access humanitarian deliveries both on a nationwide basis and on a permanent basis.
Working Together to Address Reports of Violation on the Agreement of Cessation of Hostilities
Late in February, a truce finally halted the war in Syria. But there are some reports of violations on both sides. That is why US and Germany want to eliminate those violations.
According to Secretary Kerry, there have been some number of violations reported on both sides and they take them all very seriously.
“We do not want to litigate these in a public fashion in the press.” – Secretary Kerry
To address these reports, there is a team of people on the ground in Geneva and a team of people in Amman and Jordan who are in touch with each other and with people in Syria.
The team is going to track down each alleged violation and work even more now to put in place a construct which will help them to be able to guarantee that missions are indeed missions against al-Nusrah or missions against Daesh, one of the two.
Secretary Kerry reiterated that aerial bombardments and shelling against participants in the cessation of hostilities has to end.
In addition, he reiterated their call for all parties to abide by the cessation of hostilities, to cooperate in the delivery of humanitarian aid, and to support negotiations that are aimed at a Syrian-led political transition in accordance with the 2012 Geneva communique and UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
Assad Regime Violating the Truce?
According to Secretary Kerry, he is concerned about reports that the Assad regime continues to drag its feet in providing the permits which hinders delivery of aid on time.
“So we call on the Assad regime to, at least in a moment of cessation of hostilities, try to show some measure of decency, if that is even possible.” – Secretary Kerry
He added, this obstructionism that has existed has to stop, and called on the Russians and the Iranians to do everything in their power to leverage their client to understand the stakes.
Germany’s Participation to End the Syrian Crisis Is Commendable
According to Secretary Kerry, Germany has done exemplary actions to end the human suffering in Germany. For its part, Germany co-hosted the London donors conference in February that brought in $11 billion in new pledges for Syrian relief.
In addition, Germany has contributed extraordinarily generously, not just in the giving of money but also in the very difficult task of taking in migrants – an unprecedented commitment of care for new arrivals within its own borders.
Guns Fell Silent Across Syria
After five years since an internal war started tormenting Syria, fighting came into a halt this week after a landmark UN-backed ceasefire came into effect.
According to media reports, fighting mostly stopped across western and northern Syria. Also, Russia stopped air strikes which paved the way for aid to reach civilians in need of humanitarian help.
Many hope the truce will be the beginning of the path to peace and end of civil war in Syria where an estimated 270,000 people died and 11 million people displaced.
