EU envoy to Syria: ‘absolutely unfair’ to be accused of shirking earthquake aid

• EU member countries have raised more than 50 million euros to give aid and support rescue missions.
• EU was encouraging member states to provide help and that sanctions “do not impede the delivery of humanitarian aid.”
• European Union’s envoy said it was unfair to criticise the group for failing to provide adequate assistance.

The European Union’s envoy to Syria said early Sunday that it was unfair to criticise the group for failing to provide adequate assistance to Syrians in the aftermath of last week’s earthquake that destroyed significant portions of Syria and Turkey.

According to Dan Stoenescu, the EU and its member countries have raised more than 50 million euros to give aid and support rescue missions and first aid in areas of Syria.

“It is absolutely unfair to be accused of not providing aid when actually we have constantly been doing exactly that for over a decade and we are doing so much more even during the earthquake crisis,” Stoenescu said in written comments.

More than 3,500 people were killed in Syria’s earthquake, where a 12-year conflict had already killed hundreds of thousands and prompted millions to flee within and beyond the country’s borders.

Even before Monday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake, the country has been divided between multiple competing zones of control, making assistance provision problematic.

The Syrian government, which is sanctioned by the West, has asked for UN assistance but has stressed that any assistance must be coordinated with Damascus and supplied from within Syria, not across the Turkish border into opposition territories.

Some analysts have accused Damascus of targeting loyalist areas with supplies. On Sunday, Syrian authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Sanctions do not impede the delivery of humanitarian aid

A 30-tonne convoy of humanitarian goods from Italy, comprising four ambulances and 13 pallets of medical equipment, arrived in Beirut on Saturday its route to Damascus, marking the first European earthquake relief shipment to Syria.

Stoenescu said the EU was encouraging member states to provide help and that sanctions “do not impede the delivery of humanitarian aid.”

But he said the EU had foreseen that humanitarian partners may request exemptions “for humanitarian purposes and is willing to clarify further these possibilities.”

“The more the sanctions narrative is perpetrated, the more honest actors that want to help are inhibited and afraid to get involved in the international humanitarian efforts,” he said.

The EU was seeking “sufficient safeguards” to ensure that help provided would reach vulnerable people, Stoenescu said, adding the Syrian government had a “record of aid diversion.”

“We call the authorities in Damascus not to politicize the humanitarian aid delivery, and to engage in good faith with all humanitarian partners and UN agencies to help people,” he said.

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