Abdulaziz Al-Khalifa, Baladi News
The U.N. Special Envoy for Syria said on Tuesday that a “modest” progress has been achieved in terms of delivering humanitarian aid to the besieged people in Syria, though the Syrian government forces continue to prevent the entry of medical and surgical supplies to some areas. He described the situation as “unacceptable” without demanding the international group to put pressure on the Syrian government to deliver the aid.
A formal UN delegation entered the town of Darayya in the western part of Damascus (Ghouta), last Saturday, after being absent for nearly four years through which the city had been subjected to hundreds of barrel bombs and artillery shells, according to what De Mistura said, but he forgot to say that the UN delegation entered the city without any humanitarian aid. The reason behind the visit, which was headed by Ms. Khawla Mattar, the representative of the international envoy, was only to inspect the humanitarian reality in the besieged city since November 2012, as if the besieged children, women and old people holding banners describing their situations came from another planet.
Staffan de Mistura said in press statements following the weekly meeting of the humanitarian work group, which consists of major and regional powers, that in the coming days he will appoint a senior official to handle the issue of tens of thousands of detainees, which is politically sensitive.
The UN envoy has been overlooking the issue of the detainees in the previous rounds which was supposed to be discussed with the regime delegation in order to release all detainees who are dying under torture in the cells of Syrian government, the UN envoy also revealed that there have been efforts to deliver humanitarian aid by air to 6 thousand people in desperate need in Deir Ezzor.
UN World Food Program (WFP) announced that it has a week ago dropped by air 26 packages that include 20 tons of food supplies to thousands of civilians besieged by ISIS in Deir al-Zour. Activists in the city told Baladi News that the regime seized most of the aid and they fear it will steal and distribute them to the families of its thugs or sell them at high prices in the market of the besieged city, knowing that ISIS is besieging about 200 thousand civilians in Deir al-Zour.
In his meetings with the press, De Mistura twisted his words regarding delivering the aid according to UN resolution number 2254, and he completely ignored the fact that most of the aid that entered the besieged city in the last few weeks contained cleaning supplies more than food.
Such aid were supposed to be given to people starving to death, and he also neglected to hold the Syrian government fully responsible for not delivering food aid as it should.
De Mistura's manipulation provoked Syrian anti-regime activists to launch a campaign through Afar organization calling on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to dismiss the current UN envoy after failing to meet the minimum requirements of the peace process and his submission to the desires of the Syrian government.
The petition signed by hundreds of Syrians said that “De Mistura submitted to the Syrian government and its wishes and adopted its demands as if he was a member of its delegation. He can be considered as a partner in the regime atrocities against Syrian people, not to forget his negligence towards hundreds of thousands of detainees in regime's detention centers”.
“Hundreds of thousands of people are still besieged by regime forces, Hezbollah, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This is an evidence proving the complicity of De Mistura with the criminal regime in Damascus”, activists added.
De Mistura, the Italian diplomat, was assigned by the Secretary-General of United Nations Ban Kimono, as a special envoy for Syria in July 2014, but he failed to reconcile the two delegations of regime and opposition in many talks and meetings held in Geneva. He said earlier that “the failure of Geneva 3 negotiations on the Syrian settlement will leave no hope to solve the conflict.”
“The possibility of failure is always there, especially after five years of horrible war, but if negotiations fail this time, especially after holding two conferences in Geneva, there will be no hope for Syria anymore.” Analysts think that the political talks are on the verge of failure. This comes in conjunction with political statements by several countries denouncing the abuses of the Syrian regime and their consequent calls to stop the violation of “cessation of hostilities” agreement.