News by email Donate

Suggestions

Top Stories

Most Read

Popular Videos

syria-rubble-main_article_image.jpg
AP Photo/SANA
World News

World Vision hopeful as Syrian truce announced

It said any deal to stop violence would be vital in ending suffering for people in the country and letting humanitarian aid through.

But spokesman Henry Makiwa stressed on the News Hour he could not be confident the deal would be stuck to.

Early on Friday morning diplomats agreed to work towards a temporary "cessation of hostilities" in Syria's civil war within a week.

The deal appeared to be the result of a compromise between the US, which had wanted an immediate ceasefire, and Russia, which had proposed one to start on March 1st.

Although foreign ministers from the International Syria Support Group managed to seal an agreement to "accelerate and expand" deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged Syrian communities beginning this week, their failure to agree on a ceasefire leaves the most critical step to resuming peace talks unresolved.

PA Wire

Speaking for the support group, US secretary of state John Kerry hailed the result as a significant accomplishment but noted that a cessation of hostilities would only be a "pause" in fighting and that more work would be needed to turn it into a fully-fledged ceasefire.

He also acknowledged that the agreements were "commitments on paper" only.

Mr Makiwa said World Vision was hopeful the peace would hold.

"I think the real test is whether all parties will honour this commitment, so it's still early days," he told Premier's News Hour.

"We would like to see an end and a cessation to all these hostilities for a more peaceful period in Syria so people can access a bit of relief and some aid."

SANA via AP

Humanitarian access to the battle-scarred country is to be discussed by a working group in Geneva. It is key to relieving the suffering of millions of Syrians in the short term.

Mr Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said the US and Russia would co-chair the working group on humanitarian aid as well as a taskforce that will try to deal with the "modalities" of the temporary truce.

The taskforce will include members of the military along with representatives from countries that are supporting various armed groups in Syria. The Syrian government and the opposition would both have to agree to the details.

 
Support Us
Continue the conversation on our Facebook page

Related Articles

Sign up to our newsletter to stay informed with news from a Christian perspective.

Connect

Donate

Donate