60% of Syrians suffer food insecurity: Borrell

BRUSSELS: The European Union’s (EU) top diplomat warned on Tuesday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is making the plight of poverty-stricken Syrians far worse and urged donors to dig deep to help the Middle East country wracked by more than a decade of civil war.

Opening a donor event in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that 60 per cent of Syria’s population “suffer food insecurity, and barely know where the next meal is going to come from.”

“The Russian war will increase food and energy prices and the situation in Syria will become worse,” he said.

Borrell said the 27-nation bloc would provide an additional 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) for Syria this year, bringing the annual total to 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion).

He said the EU would also provide 1.56 billion euros ($1.65 billion) next year.

“Our strong political commitment to Syria must be backed by equally strong financial commitments,” Borrell said.

He vowed that the EU would maintain sanctions against the government, and stressed that there can be no normalised relations until Syrian refugees are “safe to go back home.”

Imogen Sudbery, from the International Rescue Commitee aid group, urged the EU to do more, noting that “even if donors pledge the same as previous years, they will not fill this alarming and rapidly-increasing funding gap.”

Syria’s foreign ministry criticised the Brussels event, saying neither the Syrian government nor its ally Russia are taking part in it.

It said the conference is being organised by countries that are imposing sanctions on the “Syrian people” and blocking reconstruction.

“Countries organising or participating in this conference occupy or support the occupation of part of the Syrian territories and loot the resources of the Syrian people,” the ministry said. Borrell said that Russia was not invited due to the war in Ukraine.

“We are inviting those partners who have a genuine, a real interest to contribute to peace in the world,” he said.

NON-EU country Norway said on Monday that it would provide 1.5 billion kroner ($156 million) in 2021 to assist people in Syria and neighbouring countries.

Half of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million people was displaced by the conflict.

Aid agencies are hoping to draw some of the world’s atention back to Syria at Tuesday’s conference, hosted by the EU. The funding also goes towards aid for the 5.7 million Syrian refugees living in neighboring countries, particularly Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.