UN warns of winter crisis for displaced Iraqis

The UN refugee agency UNHCR has warned that a funding shortage could leave a million refugees across Iraq and Syria without proper help as they prepare for winter, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

The UNHCR has been trying to prepare displaced populations in the two countries for winter, but the agency is increasingly concerned about a $58.45 million funding shortfall, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

"Right now, UNHCR estimates that the winter shortfall will affect some 990,000 people, mainly newly internally displaced people in Iraq and Syria," Haq said.

The shortfall affects the agency's winter preparedness program, though it has already invested 154 million on winter aid for Syrian and Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people, he added.

While the situation is most acute in Iraq and Syria, there are also problems in other parts of the region. This will be the fourth winter away from their homes for many Syrian refugees, and the first for the 1.9 million Iraqis who have become internally displaced this year. Many have fled with nothing.

Over the past few months, Iraq has been convulsed by increasing instability amid the continuing offensive by the Islamic State group and its affiliates, unleashing wave after wave of IDPs and refugees. Since January 2014, an estimated 1.9 million people have been displaced across Iraq as they fled the violence and persecution of recent offensives.

In Syria, meanwhile, the civil war continues to displace civilians, fueling an increase in the need for winter aid.

Positive signals

The UN's peace envoy to Syria said on Tuesday that officials there had given him positive signals in response to a proposal for a truce in the northern city of Aleppo, a main battleground in the 3-year-old war.

Speaking in Damascus after meeting President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, Staffan de Mistura said the government's initial response to the proposal "was of interest, and constructive interest".

Assad was quoted on Monday as saying the proposal was worth studying.

De Mistura hopes to institute truces and improve aid access in limited local areas, starting in Aleppo, once Syria's main commercial hub.

"I believe that the proposal of the UN, regarding one freeze for Aleppo, is a concrete and realistic one," he said.

Syrian news agency SANA said De Mistura and Al-Moualem agreed to continue consultations on returning stability to Aleppo and easing the passage of humanitarian aid.

Control of Aleppo is divided between an array of rebel and pro-government forces. Neither side has managed to take a decisive advantage in more than two years of fighting.

Xinhua - Reuters

(China Daily 11/13/2014 page11)