Kuwait urges UNSC to shoulder responsibility towards Aleppo
Arab FMs concerned over Syrian cities’ ‘demography change’
Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled AlHamad Al-Sabah reiterated call for UN Security Council (UNSC) to shoulder responsibility towards devastating conflict in Syria and the unfolding Aleppo tragedy.
The UNSC has to fulfill its duties to find a permanent solution to this devastating conflict and to put an end to the fighting and destruction in Syrian cities, Sheikh Sabah AlKhaled said in his speech at the extraordinary Arab foreign ministers’ meeting held in Cairo late Monday.
The solution of the crisis should be based on the relevant Arab and UNSC resolutions, and Geneva I meeting outcome, he stressed. He warned that the current tragic situation in Aleppo would have grave consequences on the security and stability of the region and the whole world. He underlined that there would be no military solution to the conflict in Syria. “There will be no solution in Syria other than a negotiable peaceful solution based on international references,” he stated.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled hoped the Arab ministerial meeting would end up with effective resolutions to support Syrian people. Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled shed lights on the regional and international efforts to deal with the Syrian crisis since March 2011.
Over 2,206 days, the Arab League held 40 ordinary, extraordinary and committee meetings at the levels of ministers and permanent delegates to the pan-Arab organization over Syria. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has also held several meetings on the different organizational levels to discuss the Syrian crisis and ensuing “worst humanitarian crisis in the modern history.”
Three conferences
The tragic humanitarian situation featured high on the different Arab, Islam and international conferences, he said. In this regard, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled noted that Kuwait has hosted three international donors conferences for Syria in 2013, 2014, 2015 and co-organized the fourth one in London in 2016.
Kuwait has pledged a total of $1.6 billion for Syria people in the four conferences, the minister said, adding that popular campaigns to provide relief aid to people of Aleppo has collected so far more than $20 million.
Despite all these efforts, the blood of Syrian people still being shed, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled lamented. He recalled some of the appalling figures of the conflict. Over 400,000 people have been killed since the eruption of the crisis in addition to 4.8 million of refugees and 6.6 million of internally displaced people, he said.
Kuwait’s top diplomat expressed gratitude for the Arab League General Secretariat and member states for their swift response and support to Kuwait’s demand for holding an urgent Arab ministerial meeting over the developments in Aleppo.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled extended his condolences to governments and people of Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and Egypt on the victims of the recent terrorist attacks that targeted their countries. He reiterated Kuwait’s firm stance against these heinous terrorist acts and its support to all regional and international efforts to eradicate the scourge of terrorism.
The Arab foreign ministers have raised concerns and expressed total rejection of the Syrian regime measures to create new demographic realities in various Syrian cities. In a statement at the conclusion of their meeting, the ministers expressed full opposition to the Syrian regime and its allies’ measures and policies to change the demographic characteristic of Aleppo and other cities through displacing their residents and bringing in others to replace them.
They emphasized the need for guarantees to ensure the return of evacuees and displaced people to their cities and homes after the end of the conflict. They called for concerted efforts to achieve a ceasefire deal and resume peace talks to reach a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
They reiterated commitment to support the aspiration of Syrian people for freedom, equality, fairness, and stability. They ministers also strongly condemned the crimes of the terrorist groups in Syria such as the so-called Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front. They urged the UN Security Council to take firm actions against those responsible for the gross human rights violation and massacres against civilians in Syria. The ministers called on the UN to press for an end to the bloodshed in Syria and to help revive talks between warring parties. — KUNA