Munich deal does not mean ‘ceasefire’ in Syria, insists UN

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told journalists that the Syria deal reached in Munich does not mean a “ceasefire”, Anadolu reported on Friday. It is, insisted Stéphane Dujarric, a “cessation of fire”, meaning that those who have their finger on the trigger, remove that finger.

“The agreement is not a formal ceasefire,” he explained further, “but it will put a stop for now to the warfare that has left some 300,000 people dead and uprooted millions, causing a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented levels.”

However, Dujarric said that any agreement of this kind would not apply to the fight against Daesh and Al-Nusra Front or Russia’s bombing of Aleppo, in which it claims to be targeting “terrorists”.

The UN spokesman also talked about the International Syria Support Group, led by the US and Russia, which was also announced in Munich. He said that an agreement was reached to halt the fighting in Syria in order to deliver essential supplies, food and medicine to people in besieged areas.

“The mission of this is to bring hope to the Syrian people,” Dujarric said. He expects that aid will start to arrive during the coming week if the parties are agreed. The support group will hold its second meeting next week.

“I am pleased to say that in Munich today we believe we have made progress on both the humanitarian front and the cessation of hostilities front,” commented US Secretary of State John Kerry. “And these two fronts, this progress, has the potential, fully implemented, fully followed through on, to be able to change the daily lives of the Syrian people.”

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the main result of the Munich meeting is the unconditional confirmation of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 in full. “This refers to humanitarian aspects, the political process, anti-terrorism, a ceasefire, with exceptions for such terrorist organisations,” he added.