BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany is pledging a further 300 million euros ($326 million) in aid for Syrians through the United Nations and select organisations, said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Monday, ahead of an EU-led donor conference in Brussels.
More than half of the funds provided will benefit the people in Syria, which will be implemented without the transitional government in the country, said Baerbock.
The funding will go towards providing food, health services and emergency shelters, as well as protective measures for the particularly vulnerable, according to the foreign ministry.
Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey will also receive the support, she added.
Baerbock repeated the need for an inclusive political process to ensure a peaceful future for Syria.
“As Europeans, we stand together for the people of Syria, for a free and peaceful Syria,” she said.
She also called for the transitional government to investigate the killing of hundreds of civilians in Alawite villages and hold those responsible for them accountable.
Several days of violent clashes in Syria’s coastal region this month pitted loyalists of deposed President Bashar al-Assad against the country’s new Islamist rulers. A war monitoring group said more than 1,000 people had been killed.
($1 = 0.9191 euros)
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(Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Ludwig Burger)
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