$2.4b in Syrian aid pledged

Nearly 9.3 million refugees urgently need help from world community

More than 60 countries pledged $2.4 billion on Wednesday for millions of Syrians facing a humanitarian crisis as the country's almost three-year conflict grinds on.

The promise, made in the Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, intended to help the United Nations realize a $6.5 billion aid target for the crisis in 2014, the largest ever appeal in UN history for a single emergency.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who chaired the one-day meeting in Kuwait, said the situation in Syria has become a regional crisis.

"Even under the best circumstances, the fighting has set back Syria years, even decades," said Ban, adding the refugee crisis "is raising tension throughout the region" and "undermining economic development".

UN Under-Secretary-General Valerie Amos told the meeting that nearly 9.3 million Syrian people urgently need humanitarian aid, a number that equals about the population of Chad, Sweden or Bolivia.

Nearly 6.5 million people are internally displaced. Millions of others were forced to flee abroad, mostly to neighboring countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. These countries are incurring huge costs and risking GDP growth by hosting these refugees.

Last year's donor conference in Kuwait raised more than $1.5 billion in humanitarian pledges, which helped the UN provide aid, including drinking water, food and healthcare to Syrians inside and outside the war-torn country.

Kuwait's Amir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah opened this year's conference by pledging $500 million. He urged the UN Security Council to exert greater effort to end "this disaster", as well as parties and fractions in Syria "to put the fate of their country and the safety of their people above all other considerations".

US State Secretary John Kerry announced a supplementary aid package of $380 million.

"I am proud that the United States is the leading donor of humanitarian aid," Kerry told the conference.

The latest Kuwait meeting took place a week before the Geneva II conference, which was slated for Jan 22, aiming to find a political solution to the 34-month conflict that has claimed 130,000 lives.

Ban said on Wednesday that he hoped the talks in Switzerland "will launch a political process to establish a transitional governing body with full executive powers, and most importantly, end the violence".

The Syrian government said it would join the meeting in Switzerland while the opposition is deeply divided on whether to go.

China's role

Wu Sike, China's special envoy to the Middle East who attended the Kuwait conference, said, "China will continue to provide support to the extent of its capacity to the Syrian people, including refugees."

Zhu Weilie, an expert on Middle East studies at Shanghai International Studies University, said China has provided humanitarian support for Syria six times since 2012, either in capital funding or aid materials.

"The Syria crisis is the most serious humanitarian challenge that the world faces now. Especially in the harsh winter, the refugees need more help from the international community," said Zhu.

Contact the writers at zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn and zhaoyanrong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/16/2014 page12)