Friday, 8 July, 2022 -
The UN Security Council meets in New York, in January 2020 - AFP
Asharq Al-Awsat
The United Nations Security Council will continue negotiating Friday on extending authorization of aid transfers across Syria's border, one day after a scheduled vote was scrapped following disagreement between Russia and the West.
Moscow is seeking a six-month extension, with the possibility to renew, while Western nations want a full year for the transfers, which are being conducted without approval from Damascus.
According to AFP, a vote had been set for Thursday to extend approval of the aid deliveries across the Syrian-Turkish border at Bab al-Hawa, the authorization for which has been in effect since 2014 and is set to expire Sunday.
Norway and Ireland, two non-permanent members of the 15-country Council, produced a new text Thursday evening, which would provide for a six-month extension until mid-January 2023, and then an additional six-month extension "unless the Council decides otherwise."
The extension would also be conditional on a "substantive report" by the secretary-general, including on the operation's transparency, progress on channeling aid across the front line, and progress on meeting humanitarian needs.
Uncertainty remained as to whether the proposal would suit Russia and whether a vote would be possible on Friday.
Nearly 10,000 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid passed through Bab al-Hawa last year, bound for the opposition-held Idlib region in northwestern Syria. It is the only crossing through which aid can be brought into Idlib without navigating areas controlled by Syrian government forces.
Moscow, which holds veto power on the Security Council and is an ally of Damascus, has curtailed a number of Western-backed measures in recent years.
It views the authorization as a violation of Syria's sovereignty, and believes the delivery of aid to the northwest region should only be carried out from Damascus across the front line.
Russia had hinted in recent months that it would oppose an extension, having already forced a reduction in the number of allowed border crossings.
However its latest draft proposal submitted Thursday, which competes with that of Norway and Ireland, proposes extending the aid by six months, with the potential for the Council to decide in January upon another six months.
Western nations have deemed the text unacceptable, as there is no guarantee of an extension at the start of the new year.
The latest competing texts do however call for "further initiatives to broaden the humanitarian activities in Syria," including in water, sanitation, health, education and shelter.
In recent weeks, dozens of NGOs and several senior UN officials have lobbied Security Council members for the yearlong cross-border aid clearance.
U.N. Security Council feuds over how long to extend Syria aid from Turkey
Men ride a motorbike past damaged buildings in the rebel-held town of Nairab
Thu, July 7, 2022
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council appeared headed toward a showdown on Friday over whether to allow U.N. aid deliveries from Turkey to some 4 million people in opposition-controlled northwest Syria to continue for six months or one year.
The U.N. mandate for the eight-year-long aid operation expires on Sunday. After negotiations on Thursday evening that pitted Russia against the United States and Britain, the 15-member council agreed to return on Friday for further talks.
Russia only wants to renew the aid operation for six months and require the council to then adopt a new resolution to extend it for another six months, said Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy.
"Six months ends in January, in the middle of winter, the worst time possible," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters.
"A six month resolution does not provide the certainty and the confidence that the Syrian refugees require and the NGOs (aid groups) require in order to continue to plan for and provide for support," said Thomas-Greenfield, who visited the Turkish border crossing last month to assess the aid operation.
An attempted compromise text, drafted by Ireland and Norway and circulated late on Thursday, would renew the aid operation for one year and require the council to adopt a new resolution if the mandate is to be ended after six months.
Ireland's U.N. Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason told reporters she would continue working overnight and "hopefully be back in the morning with a solution."
The Security Council vote on the cross-border aid operation has been a contentious issue for several years.
In 2014 the Security Council authorized humanitarian aid deliveries into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Turkey. But veto powers Russia and China have whittled that down that down to just one Turkish border point.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the council last month to extend its approval of the aid deliveries from Turkey into northwest Syria, telling the body: "We cannot give up on the people of Syria."
Men ride a motorbike past damaged buildings in the rebel-held town of Nairab
Thu, July 7, 2022
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council appeared headed toward a showdown on Friday over whether to allow U.N. aid deliveries from Turkey to some 4 million people in opposition-controlled northwest Syria to continue for six months or one year.
The U.N. mandate for the eight-year-long aid operation expires on Sunday. After negotiations on Thursday evening that pitted Russia against the United States and Britain, the 15-member council agreed to return on Friday for further talks.
Russia only wants to renew the aid operation for six months and require the council to then adopt a new resolution to extend it for another six months, said Russia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy.
"Six months ends in January, in the middle of winter, the worst time possible," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters.
"A six month resolution does not provide the certainty and the confidence that the Syrian refugees require and the NGOs (aid groups) require in order to continue to plan for and provide for support," said Thomas-Greenfield, who visited the Turkish border crossing last month to assess the aid operation.
An attempted compromise text, drafted by Ireland and Norway and circulated late on Thursday, would renew the aid operation for one year and require the council to adopt a new resolution if the mandate is to be ended after six months.
Ireland's U.N. Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason told reporters she would continue working overnight and "hopefully be back in the morning with a solution."
The Security Council vote on the cross-border aid operation has been a contentious issue for several years.
In 2014 the Security Council authorized humanitarian aid deliveries into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Turkey. But veto powers Russia and China have whittled that down that down to just one Turkish border point.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the council last month to extend its approval of the aid deliveries from Turkey into northwest Syria, telling the body: "We cannot give up on the people of Syria."
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