U.N. seeks more aid for Syria
Appeal grows to $347 million
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations nearly doubled its humanitarian appeal for Syria on Friday, seeking $347 million for people in need, including more than half a million children forced to flee their homes.
With the civil war intensifying, the number of people in need of assistance has doubled since July to 2.5 million, prompting the dramatic increase in the appeal for aid.
The plea comes even as the original appeal for $180 million is only half-funded. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged donors to increase their contributions.
“At the moment, the entire civilian population inside Syria is gripped by fear and despair,” John Ging, a senior U.N. humanitarian official, said after the U.N. humanitarian plan was launched Friday. “Humanitarian action is not a solution in conflict. The solution in conflict is political resolution … but while there is failure to find that process … we in the humanitarian community have to step up and do more in ever more dangerous circumstances to help people who are suffering more.”
The European Union announced Friday it will provide an additional $76 million in humanitarian aid for Syria.
The announcement came days after France decided to provide direct aid and money to five rebel-held Syrian cities as it intensifies efforts to weaken Assad. It was the first such move by a Western power amid mounting calls for the international community to do more to prevent bloodshed.
U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said that more than 1.2 million people are displaced inside Syria, half of them children. Another nearly 250,000 Syrian refugees are in neighboring Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq, including more than 100,000 people who were registered as refugees in August alone, Nesirky said.
The U.N. plan was launched at the Syria Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, which brought together more than 350 participants from governments, regional and international organizations and U.N. humanitarian agencies to mobilize resources to help those uprooted by the conflict.