Don’t forget Syria, UN refugee chief warns world powers

March 12, 2014 | By hromedia | Reply More

Mar 12, – The head of the United Nation’s refugee agency said on Tuesday it must be ready in case Ukraine’s crisis causes refugees to flee Crimea, but his biggest worry is that “a total disaster” could occur if the international community diverts its attention away from Syria’s conflict.

Antonio Guterres, the head of the U.N.’s High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), said in an interview that little progress was being made in efforts by the United States and Russia, now at loggerheads over Ukraine, to bring Syria’s warring sides together after the collapse of talks in Geneva last month.

“In the moment in which we need the most relevant countries in the world to be able to come together to narrow their differences and to try to find a way to move into peace for Syria, this tension around Ukraine will obviously not help,” Guterres told Reuters while visiting Washington to discuss Syria’s refugee crisis.

“I hope that those that have the most important responsibility in world affairs will be able to understand that forgetting Syria will be a total disaster,” he said.

Tensions between Washington and Moscow have risen over Russia’s bloodless seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region, which has brought U.S.-Russian relations to one of their lowest points since the Cold War.

The United States and European allies have threatened sanctions against Moscow, which has said people in Crimea, a small majority of whom are ethnic Russians, should have the right to secede by voting in a referendum to be held on Sunday.

Guterres said his agency was preparing for the possibility of refugees from Crimea and had moved teams inside Ukraine to monitor the situation.

“We are preparing ourselves for any movement of population that might occur,” said Guterres. “Until now it has not happened in a significant way, and we hope that it will be avoided,” he said.

“Our hope is that things will not evolve in a way that will force large numbers of people to be displaced. We have enough problems of refugees and displaced people in the world, we can live without a new massive displacement,” he added.

But Guterres said he was concerned that tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine could worsen divides that have already played out in the U.N. Security Council over Syria. Throughout the civil war, Russia, backed by China, has shielded Syria on the U.N. Security Council by vetoing three resolutions condemning Syria’s government and threatening it with possible sanctions.

Press journalist for HRO media – Khizer Hayat contributed to this report.