On the picture His Highness Sabah IV Amir of Kuwait.
By Baron Henri Estramant.
31 March 2015, Kuwait City: The Third International Pledging Humanitarian Conference for Syria (Kuwait III) was held in the State of Kuwait under the auspices of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and His Highness The Amir of Kuwait. The United Nations had appealed for $8.4 billion for Syria this year to help deal with the ballooning humanitarian crisis.
Some 200,000 people have died and nearly half the Syrian population has been displaced by the turmoil that began with anti-government protests in 2011 and spiralled into full-scale civil war. The number of people needing humanitarian aid has increased by 2.9 million in merely ten months.
Although the response to the first annual conference in Kuwait in 2013 exceeded the $1.5 billion requested, last year’s conference only secured pledges of $2.4 billion towards a $6.5 billion appeal.
Amir Sabah IV of Kuwait who last year was honoured by Ban Ki-Moon as a “humanitarian leader” announced a USD 500 million pledge. The conference was attended by nearly 80 governments and dozens of aid agencies, with the United States promising $507 million, Kuwait $500 million, the United Arab Emirates $100 million and Saudi Arabia $60 million.
EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, was also present to pledge the EU monetary and moral support.
Kuwait III conference was held just after the 26th Arab Summit in Sharm el Sheikh where the possibility of setting up a “voluntary”, pan-Arab military force of ca. 40,000 élite troops backed by jets, warships and light armour was discussed, and in principle agreed upon by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Saudi Arabia.
The summit also provided the outlet for bilateral meetings amongst regional leaders including a rendezvous between Kuwait’s Amir, Sheikh Sabah IV and Fujairah’s ruler, Amir Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, Member of the Supreme Council of Rulers and Head of the Emirati delegation to the summit on behalf of the UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Amir of Abu Dhabi.
