Filippo Grandi: ‘Safe Zones’ in Syria Waste of Time
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi slammed the idea of ‘safe zones’ in Syria, saying he does not “see the conditions” to create such areas in the country, according to RT.
“Let’s not waste time planning safe zones that will not be set up because they will not be safe enough for people to go back,” Grandi said Friday, as cited by Reuters.
Grandi urged instead to “concentrate on making peace so that everything becomes safe. That should be the investment.”
“Frankly, I don’t see in Syria the conditions” to set up such zones in the country, “with the fragmentation, the number of actors, the presence of terrorist groups,” he added.
“It’s not the right place to think of that solution,” the official concluded.
His statement comes a few days after the UN chief also spoke out on safe zones, saying that some of them turned into catastrophes.
At the end of January, US President Donald Trump talked about setting up “safe zones” in Syria.
“I’ll absolutely do safe zones in Syria for the people,” he said in his first interview since taking office, with ABC News.
Days later, Trump signed an executive order barring Syrian refugees from seeking asylum in the US, and barring entry to the US for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for three months.
The order has caused immense uproar all over the world, from crowds taking to the streets throughout the US, to a petition in the UK calling for Trump to be banned from going to Britain on an official state visit. The petition gathered almost two million signatures.
H.M