The United Nations on Friday launched on a record of $ 5.2 billion aid appeal to fund operations in Syria and neighbouring countries. International Finance Magazine reports the story for the cause of war and the U.N. aid to rehabilitate war victims.
14th June 2013
The U.N. has asked its donor countries for a $ 5.2 Billion aid to alleviate the sufferings of millions of Syrians suffering the effects of a conflict that has dragged on for more than 2 years with no signs of ending. The fund is estimated to help around 6.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told media persons. In a daily news briefing Mr. Nesirky briefed news persons and said “ In Geneva on Friday, the United Nations launched an appeal for Syria, asking for an aid of $ 5 billion dollars for the whole of 2013”. “At this time, the UN appeal for Syria has have already received $ 1.24 billion dollars in funding and so far, leaving behind another 3 billion dollars in unmet requirements until the end of the year” he said. Nesirky, also said “One in three Syrians are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, in addition to more than eighty thousand people who have been killed”. It is estimated that two years of conflict have setback Syria’s development by two decades.
The World Health Organization had warned recently that outbreaks of typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, dysentery are inevitable. Health care sector is non functional and drinking water supplies have been seriously disrupted. Food and medicine are immediate concerns for the civil war disrupted state. The World Food Program has said it has plans to provide assistance to 4 million people inside Syria, by September in addition to more than 2 million refugees in neighboring countries. The civil war in Syria is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between the forces loyal to the ruling party and those who are seeking to oust it. The conflict began on March 15th, 2011, with demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. The protesters demanded the resignation of President Bashal Al-Assad, whose family has held the presidency since 1971 and also to end their rule in the country. The Syrian army was called to quell the rebellion in April 2011, the soldiers fired live ammunition on the demonstrators. The opposition forces which included civilians and soldiers defected from the army became increasingly organized as they unified into larger groups. However, the government says the leadership is fractured and has no leadership. The government opines that the insurgency as an uprising of “ armed terrorist groups and foreign mercenaries”. The Ba’ath party which came to power in 1964 has remained the dominant political party in Syria. Hafez Al Assad became its president in 1971. Assad died in 2000, and was succeeded by his son Basha Al Assad in the year 2000.
The United Nations, in January 2013, released an estimate of the war death casualties. It said around 80,000 people have been killed so far in the war, out of which half are civilians. The situation in the region has worsened dramatically, with over 1.6 million Syrians seeking shelters in neighboring countries and in North Africa. International efforts to bring a settlement between the government and the warring groups have received a jolt with both the U.S. and Russia saying there was no chance of holding peace conference this month as previously planned.