Paris, France | AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron and his US counterpart Donald Trump vowed there would be “no impunity” in the event of further chemical weapons use in Syria in a telephone call Friday. The leaders also urged Russia to put “maximum pressure” on its ally Damascus to …
Read More »Syria regime strikes rebel enclave as aid trucks wait
Wafideen Checkpoint, Syria | AFP | Syrian and Russian forces kept up military pressure on rebel-held Eastern Ghouta Thursday as their controversial unilateral truce failed to yield a humanitarian breakthrough. More than 40 trucks loaded with aid were unable to reach the 400,000 people living in the battered enclave, prompting …
Read More »Aid convoy blocked in Syria despite UN ceasefire order: official
United Nations, United States | AFP | About 40 trucks are loaded and ready to ferry relief supplies to Syria’s bomb-and-siege shattered Eastern Ghouta, but there has been no let up in fighting despite a UN ceasefire resolution, a top UN official said Wednesday. Mark Lowcock, the UN under secretary-general for …
Read More »Donors conference set for March for UN Palestinian agency
United Nations, United States | AFP | A donors’ conference will be held next month to help fill a funding gap at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees caused by the US decision to cut support, Sweden’s deputy UN ambassador said Tuesday. The March 15 conference in Rome, hosted by Sweden, …
Read More »UN peacekeepers from Ghana recalled over sex with S. Sudan women
United Nations, United States | AFP | Forty-six UN peacekeepers from Ghana have been recalled from their base in northwestern South Sudan following allegations of sexual exploitation of women sheltering at the site, a UN spokesman said Monday. The 46 police were confined to barracks in Juba on Saturday after a …
Read More »Half of S.Sudanese hungry, as famine looms again
Juba, South Sudan | AFP | Nearly half of the population in war-torn South Sudan is experiencing extreme hunger, with many more set to run out of food as famine looms, government and UN agencies said Monday. A year after South Sudan became the first country in six years to …
Read More »EU calls for immediate Syria ceasefire
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The EU’s diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini on Monday demanded that a UN-backed ceasefire in Syria be implemented “immediately”, as fresh government strikes on rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta killed 10 civilians. Mogherini said a UN Security Council resolution passed Saturday calling for a 30-day ceasefire …
Read More »Pope calls for immediate halt to Syria violence
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Sunday called for an immediate end to violence in Syria to allow aid deliveries, especially in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta which has been hit by regime bombardment. “This February has been one of the most violent (periods) in …
Read More »Strikes, clashes hit Syria’s Ghouta despite ceasefire call
Douma, Syria | AFP | New regime air strikes and heavy clashes shook Syria’s rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta on Sunday despite a UN demand for a ceasefire to end one of the most ferocious assaults of Syria’s civil war. After days of diplomatic wrangling, the Security Council on Saturday …
Read More »UN backs Syria ceasefire as death toll in rebel enclave tops 500
United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN Security Council on Saturday unanimously demanded a 30-day ceasefire in Syria, as new air strikes on the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta took the civilian death toll from seven days of bombing to more than 500. With support from Russia, the …
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