UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council voted Friday to renew cross-border aid to Syria but under pressure from Russia scaled back the program, which has been helping millions in the war-ravaged country since 2014.
The assistance is being prolonged for only six months, whereas it had been extended yearly previously.
And deliveries will now be made from only two points, which are along Syria’s border with Turkey, down from four.
After a series of concessions by Western countries since late December, the resolution extending the aid was passed by 11 votes in favor and four abstentions which came from Russia, China, the United States and Britain.
The existing mandate was to expire Friday.
Belgium and France expressed disappointment over the scaling back of the aid.
“Eleven million Syrians need humanitarian assistance,” said Belgian Ambassador Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve.
The US ambassador, Kelly Craft, meanwhile said “Syrians will die with this resolution.”
Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, saw international authorization of cross-border aid shipments as a “breach of sovereignty” a western diplomat said.
The diplomat said Russia wanted to force recognition that Damascus had largely retaken control of territory inside Syria a year ago, admitting that Moscow was in a “strong position” in the face-off with western countries.
The western concessions to Russia keep the program alive but on a reduced scale.
The aid is vital for almost three million Syrians living in the northern Idlib region, where fighting and bombardments have increased in recent weeks.
The resolution extends cross border aid until July 10. It does away with two entry points, one along the border with Turkey and the other on the frontier with Iraq. The latter helped 1.3 million people in northeast Syria.
At the insistence of Germany and Belgium, the council asked Secretary General Antonio Guterres to compile a report by the end of February on finding an alternative to the aid point on the Iraqi border, which is the town of Al Yarubiyah.
On December 20, Russia — backed by China — vetoed a proposal to extend aid for a year from three border spots: two along the border with Turkey and the Iraqi one.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the Russian and Chinese veto as “shameful” and told Moscow and Beijing “you have blood on your hands.”
Washington’s negotiating position had been less than subtle however, one diplomat told AFP, starting out with a demand for five crossing points that could be bargained down to its desired number of three, then two.
The United States also wrongly assessed that Moscow would not resort to a veto, which it did, the same source said.
The British ambassador to the UN, Karen Pierce, said the council’s vote Friday let down the people of Syria.
“It’s an inadequate response for the Syrian people. And it’s an inadequate response to what the UN have been asking for,” she said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday four million Syrians are being supported by cross-border operations, 2.7 million of them in the northwest and another 1.3 million in the northeast.
Under Russian pressure, UN approves scaled back aid for Syria
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Under Russian pressure, UN approves scaled back aid for Syria
Tunisia’s famed blue-and-white village threatened after record rains
- The one-time home of French philosopher Michel Foucault and writer Andre Gide, the village is protected under Tunisian preservation law, pending a UNESCO decision on its bid for World Heritage status
SIDI BOU SAID, Tunisia: Perched on a hill overlooking Carthage, Tunisia’s famed blue-and-white village of Sidi Bou Said now faces the threat of landslides, after record rainfall tore through parts of its slopes.
Last week, Tunisia saw its heaviest downpour in more than 70 years. The storm killed at least five people, with others still missing.
Narrow streets of this village north of Tunis — famed for its pink bougainvillea and studded wooden doors — were cut off by fallen trees, rocks and thick clay. Even more worryingly for residents, parts of the hillside have broken loose.
“The situation is delicate” and “requires urgent intervention,” Mounir Riabi, the regional director of civil defense in Tunis, recently told AFP.
“Some homes are threatened by imminent danger,” he said.
Authorities have banned heavy vehicles from driving into the village and ordered some businesses and institutions to close, such as the Ennejma Ezzahra museum.
- Scared -
Fifty-year-old Maya, who did not give her full name, said she was forced to leave her century-old family villa after the storm.
“Everything happened very fast,” she recalled. “I was with my mother and, suddenly, extremely violent torrents poured down.”
“I saw a mass of mud rushing toward the house, then the electricity cut off. I was really scared.”
Her Moorish-style villa sustained significant damage.
One worker on site, Said Ben Farhat, said waterlogged earth sliding from the hillside destroyed part of a kitchen wall.
“Another rainstorm and it will be a catastrophe,” he said.
Shop owners said the ban on heavy vehicles was another blow to their businesses, as they usually rely on tourist buses to bring in traffic.
When President Kais Saied visited the village on Wednesday, vendors were heard shouting: “We want to work.”
One trader, Mohamed Fedi, told AFP afterwards there were “no more customers.”
“We have closed shop,” he said, adding that the shops provide a livelihood to some 200 families.
- Highly unstable -
Beyond its famous architecture, the village also bears historical and spiritual significance.
The village was named after a 12th-century Sufi saint, Abu Said Al-Baji, who had established a religious center there. His shrine still sits atop the hill.
The one-time home of French philosopher Michel Foucault and writer Andre Gide, the village is protected under Tunisian preservation law, pending a UNESCO decision on its bid for World Heritage status.
Experts say solutions to help preserve Sidi Bou Said could include restricting new development, building more retaining walls and improving drainage to prevent runoff from accumulating.
Chokri Yaich, a geologist speaking to Tunisian radio Mosaique FM, said climate change has made protecting the hill increasingly urgent, warning of more storms like last week’s.
The hill’s clay-rich soil loses up to two thirds of its cohesion when saturated with water, making it highly unstable, Yaich explained.
He also pointed to marine erosion and the growing weight of urbanization, saying that construction had increased by about 40 percent over the past three decades.
For now, authorities have yet to announce a protection plan, leaving home and shop owners anxious, as the weather remains unpredictable.
