LISBON: Portugal said on Thursday it would give 10 million euros ($10.89 million) to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA as a one-off contribution intended to provide food, medicine, and humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
The amount was announced by acting Cabinet Affairs Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva following a cabinet meeting. A Foreign Ministry official described the amount as new additional aid that had not been in the state budget for 2024.
The United States, UNRWA’s biggest donor, and several other countries have paused their funding to the agency since January after Israel accused 12 of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the Oct. 7 attacks.
Portugal, which did not pause its funding, contributed four million euros directly to UNRWA in 2023, and in February this year it announced one million euros in extra aid to the agency.
Caretaker Prime Minister Antonio Costa said earlier he would inform the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a fellow Portuguese who has repeatedly called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, of the 10 million euro contribution.
“We are all unanimous in condemning the barbaric attack that took place on Oct. 7 against Israel, but we must all also be unanimous in condemning the unacceptable way in which Israel is currently exercising its right to defense,” Costa told reporters ahead of a European Council meeting in Brussels.
Portugal pledges 10 million euros in aid to UNRWA
https://arab.news/zvw49
Portugal pledges 10 million euros in aid to UNRWA
- The amount was announced by acting Cabinet Affairs Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva
- A Foreign Ministry official described the amount as new additional aid that had not been in the state budget for 2024
Brazil’s Lula accuses Trump of seeking to forge ‘new UN’
- Lula defended multilateralism against what he called “the law of the jungle” in global affairs
- Key US allies including France and Britain have also expressed doubts
BRASILIA: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Donald Trump on Friday of trying to create “a new UN” with his proposed “Board of Peace.”
The veteran leftist joins other world leaders who have avoided signing up for Trump’s new global conflict resolution organization, where a permanent seat costs $1 billion and the chairman is Trump himself.
“Instead of fixing” the United Nations, “what’s happening? President Trump is proposing to create a new UN where only he is the owner,” Lula said.
Trump unveiled his “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos Thursday, joined on stage by leaders and officials from 19 countries to sign its founding charter.
Lula defended multilateralism against what he called “the law of the jungle” in global affairs.
His remarks come a day after he spoke by phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who urged his counterpart to safeguard the “central role” of the United Nations in international affairs.
In his remarks on Friday, Lula said “the UN charter is being torn.”
Although originally intended to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the board’s charter does not seem to limit its role to the Palestinian territory and appears to want to rival the United Nations.
Key US allies including France and Britain have also expressed doubts.
London balked at the inclusion of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces are fighting in Ukraine after invading in 2022.
France said the charter as it currently stood was “incompatible” with its international commitments, especially its UN membership.
