UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said that the Assad regime has not yet given unrestricted access to humanitarian aid in the besieged areas across Syria. De Mistura on Tuesday briefed the UN Security Council on the situation in Syria during a closed-door meeting on the eve of a resumption in Geneva of talks due to restart today.
The US permanent representative to the UN, Samantha Power, on Tuesday said that the Assad regime’s commitment to a ceasefire and pledges to allow aid deliveries are slipping, putting the peace process on a more fragile footing.
“Right now, there are signs that this is slipping and it is a much more delicate environment for De Mistura to convene political talks,” Power added.
Member of the Syrian Coalition’s political committee Nora al-Ameer last week said the Assad regime is reneging on its pledges to improve humanitarian conditions in Syria as was stipulated in Articles 12 and 13 of the UN Security Council resolution 2254. She added that the Assad regime is restricting the delivery of humanitarian aid to many of the areas their forces have laid siege to.
“The worsening humanitarian conditions in Syria would undermine the political process and reduce the chances of reaching a political solution in Syria. The entry of aid has slowed down after the Assad regime has surrounded the UN aid deliveries with red tape procedures that have increased the suffering of civilians and caused them to starve,” Al-Ameer added.
“Ending the blockades on besieged cities in Syria is a prerequisite for giving a push to the political process,” Al-Ameer stressed, calling upon the member states of the UN Security Council to fulfill their commitment to the implementation of the UNSC resolution 2254 which was adopted unanimously. She also called for deterring the Assad regime’s continued breaches of international law and international humanitarian law. (Source: Coalition + Agencies)
