US leads pledges with $507 million at Syria donor conference

KUWAIT CITY (AP):

The United States pledged $507 million in humanitarian aid at an international donors' conference for Syria yesterday as the United Nations issued an appeal for $8.4 billion in commitments this year, the organisations largest appeal yet for the war-ravaged country.

Earlier, Kuwait, which is hosting the third annual conference, pledged $500 million. In his opening remarks, Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah said the Syrian conflict is the "biggest humanitarian crisis in recent history."

The civil war, now in its fifth year, has killed at least 220,000 people and displaced 11 million, according to UN figures. Of the displaced, nearly four million have been forced to flee to nearby countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, stretching resources there to the limit.

RESOURCES EXHAUSTED

"The Syrian people's plight has spilled over to hosting countries, exhausting their resources and it is our role to support the host countries," Al Sabah said.

As the crisis in Syria continues unabated, the UN said $2.9 billion is needed in 2015 for Syrian people inside the country, and $5.5 billion for those who have fled to the five surrounding countries.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Syrian crisis has created the "the largest displacement crisis in the world" and that 12.2 million people, just under half of them children, are in "dire need of aid".

DIFFERENT APPEAL

The UN High Guterres said this current UN appeal is different from previous ones because it recognises both the immediate and the longer-term imperatives of responding to the crisis.

Ahead of this year's gathering, the German government said it will pledge $277 million in new aid. Kuwaiti state media say local charities and aid organisations pledged another $506 million just before the conference started.

Gulf envoys addressing the conference said the United Arab Emirates pledged $100 million. Saudi Arabia pledged $60 million, while Norway said it would pay $93 million. The US delegation at the conference is led by Samantha Power, Washington's ambassador to the UN.

At last year's donors' conference, about $2.4 billion were pledged, though the UN had called for $6.5 billion in pledges. In 2013, some $1.5 billion were pledged, less than half of the UN's appeal for $4.4 billion.

Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said the situation for people is "at a tipping point" and "unsustainable".