European Union backs UN plan for Syrian truce

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 finding 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.
"We are going to take some decisions on the ways we can concretely support the efforts of the United Nations, in particular on plans for a freeze ... for Aleppo," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said before talks resumed on Monday. "That is 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," she said.
Mogherini did not say what form EU support might take, but 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 designed to mobilise humanitarian aid for the Syrian refugee crisis.
De Mistura recently met Syrian opposition groups in Turkey to try to win their support for the 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.
Britain also has some reservations about the plan. But Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said de Mistura had "the most realistic plan, the only plan that we see that is being carved out." Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard said de Mistura was making progress and urged Moscow to back the plan at the UN Security Council. "We will urge the Russians to engage in the whole process of a truce in Aleppo," he said.