Cessation Of Hostilities Announced For Syria

A “cessation of hostilities” was agreed upon by the major world powers to ensure the immediate delivery of aid in Syria, said US Secretary of State John Kerry. He made the announcement in Munich Germany, where a deal was made among top diplomats from a number of countries including, Russia and the United States.

He said he was pleased with the result of the discussions that resulted to an end of hostilities and the delivery of humanitarian aid in Syria. He added that the progress made on the end of hostilities and sending of humanitarian aid may result to changes in the daily lives of the people in Syria if it is fully implemented and followed.

Secretary Kelly said they were able to agree on accelerating and expanding the delivery of aid, which will begin immediately. He added that they were also able to agree on the implementations of a cessation of hostilities that will start within one week. While it is ambitious, Secretary Kelly said everyone was aiming to move fast to accomplish it.

Cessation Of Hostilities Announced For Syria - image credit: en.wikipedia.org

The move was described as “significant and tenuous” by Elise Labott, CNN Global Affairs correspondent. She took note of the use of “cessation of hostilities” by Secretary Kerry as compared to using the word “ceasefire.” Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson of CNN International said the first building block of the process is the delivery of humanitarian aid. He added that the cessation may eventually result to a ceasefire.

However, a ceasefire is not applicable to terrorist organizations in Syria. Secretary Kerry said the conflict can be beneficial for extremists. He added that the commitment of all the parties involved and implementation of the agreement will be the real test of the discussions. He also said a political transition plan is required to end the civil war in Syria.

The uprising in Syria started in March 2011. The United Nations said the conflict resulted to the dead of around 250,000 individuals and displacement of 12 million. Secretary Kerry said what is needed is to put the words into “actions on the ground.”

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia echoed the sentiment of Secretary Kerry. He said while a ceasefire is not easy to achieve, the recent announcement is a positive step forward. He said the common determination in the cessation of hostilities is to ease the suffering of the people in Syria.

Posted by James Fried on Friday February 12 2016, 9:48 AM EDT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Uncategorized. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0