By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-12 14:09:36 | Updated at 2025-01-12 19:12:09
5 hours ago
Germany’s foreign minister Analena Baerbock said on Sunday that sanctions against Syrian officials responsible for war crimes must remain in place but called for a “smart approach” to provide relief to the Syrian population after last month’s overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.
Baerbock spoke to reporters after arriving in Saudi Arabia for a conference on Syria’s future attended by top European and Middle Eastern diplomats.
Germany is one of several countries that imposed sanctions on the Assad government over its brutal crackdown on dissent. Those penalties could hinder Syria’s recovery from nearly 14 years of civil war that killed an estimated 500,000 people and displaced half the pre-war population of 23 million.
“Sanctions against Assad’s henchmen who committed serious crimes during the civil war must remain in place,” Baerbock said. “But Germany proposes to take a smart approach to sanctions, providing rapid relief for the Syrian population. Syrians now need a quick dividend from the transition of power.”
Baerbock announced an additional 50 million euros (US$51.2 million) in German aid for food, emergency shelters and medical care, highlighting the ongoing struggles of millions of Syrians displaced by the war.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who also attended the meeting, said European countries want to see a government that includes all of Syria’s religious and ethnic communities. “We want to see inclusivity of women also in the process, so these are the things that we are going to discuss,” she said.
