European Union backs UN plan for Syrian truce

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (right) talks with Slovenia's Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec (second right), Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo y Marfil (second left) and Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, at the European Council building in Brussels. -AP

European Union foreign ministers threw their weight behind a UN plan for a truce in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday, saying it offered a glimmer of hope for a political solution to the three-and-a-half year old civil war.

UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura briefed the ministers on Sunday evening on his plan for a “freeze in the fighting” in Aleppo to try to get humanitarian assistance into the city that is split between opposition fighters and government troops.

“The EU is committed to fully support ... de Mistura’s efforts to achieve a strategic de-escalation of violence as a basis for a broader sustainable political process,” EU foreign ministers said in a statement after discussing the plan in Brussels.

The EU would seek to support de Mistura’s efforts for example by helping to rebuild local administration and restoring basic services in areas where fighting had calmed down, they said.

The ministers also voiced serious concern about intensified military action by the Syrian government against opposition-held areas which they said threatened de Mistura’s initiative.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said supporting the UN plan was crucial “not only for humanitarian and for security reasons but also as a symbol of what we can do and what we should do to stop the war in Syria ... It’s time for us to make a positive contribution to a solution there.”

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said that, if there was a truce, the EU “must be ready with food, medicines to help the population in Aleppo.”

Separately, the European Commission and Italy agreed on Monday to launch a regional trust fund for Syria, with initial funding of 23 million euros ($29 million), designed to mobilise more aid for the Syrian refugee crisis.

The EU and its member states have so far raised 3 billion euros in humanitarian aid for Syria and neighbouring countries.

De Mistura recently met Syrian opposition groups in Turkey to try to win their support for his plan. He has warned that the fall of Aleppo, once Syria’s main commercial city, would create an additional 400,000 refugees. Some 200,000 people have died in the civil war.

The opposition, as well as some diplomats and analysts, say the initiative is risky and that Aleppo could face the same fate as the central city of Homs, where government forces have largely regained control.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said de Mistura had “the most realistic plan, the only plan that we see that is being carved out.”