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 Antonio Guterres, the head of the U.N.'s High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR), said in an interview that little progress was
being made in efforts by the United States and Russia, now at
loggerheads over Ukraine, to bring Syria's warring sides together
after the collapse of talks in Geneva last month.
"In the moment in which we need the most relevant countries in the
world to be able to come together to narrow their differences and to
try to find a way to move into peace for Syria, this tension around
Ukraine will obviously not help," Guterres told Reuters while
visiting Washington to discuss Syria's refugee crisis.
"I hope that those that have the most important responsibility in
world affairs will be able to understand that forgetting Syria will
be a total disaster," he said.
Tensions between Washington and Moscow have risen over Russia's
bloodless seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region, which has brought
U.S.-Russian relations to one of their lowest points since the Cold
War.
The United States and European allies have threatened sanctions
against Moscow, which has said people in Crimea, a small majority of
whom are ethnic Russians, should have the right to secede by voting
in a referendum to be held on Sunday.
Guterres said his agency was preparing for the possibility of
refugees from Crimea and had moved teams inside Ukraine to monitor
the situation.
"We are preparing ourselves for any movement of population that
might occur," said Guterres. "Until now it has not happened in a
significant way, and we hope that it will be avoided," he said.
"Our hope is that things will not evolve in a way that will force
large numbers of people to be displaced. We have enough problems of
refugees and displaced people in the world, we can live without a
new massive displacement," he added.
But Guterres said he was concerned that tensions between Russia and
the West over Ukraine could worsen divides that have already played
out in the U.N. Security Council over Syria. Throughout the civil
war, Russia, backed by China, has shielded Syria on the U.N.
Security Council by vetoing three resolutions condemning Syria's
government and threatening it with possible sanctions.
"I don't think there are reasons to be optimistic," he said of the
possibility of resolving the Syrian war.
"We see the war going on and on and on, not only with tragic
humanitarian consequences with suffering of Syrian people that is
unimaginable, but also becoming a serious threat to global peace and
security, not only to regional stability but also to global peace
and security."
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Repeating what political leaders have said that the conflict can
only be resolved through political dialogue, Guterres also said that
"discreet diplomacy" was needed among the main players — the U.S.,
Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran — to narrow differences and avoid a
prolonged deadlock in talks.
"There was never any major international crisis that was solved
without a lot of silent, discreet diplomacy behind the scenes to
support the public diplomacy process," he said. "That is lacking in
the Syrian crisis."
With the Syrian conflict now heading toward a fourth year this week
and more people fleeing the war, the UN has warned that Syrians are
about to replace Afghans as the world's largest refugee population.
There are currently more than 2.5 million Syrian registered by the
U.N. in neighboring countries such as Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and
Iraq, but Guterres said it is believed more than 3 million have fled
the conflict.
"It is absolutely essential that the international community
mobilizes massively to support Lebanon, to support Jordan, to
support all the other neighboring countries to make sure that they
are able to cope with the challenge and to preserve the stability of
the region," he said.
With the bulk of U.N. funding for refugees focused on Syria,
Guterres said other U.N. operations in Central Africa Republic,
South Sudan, Mali and Democratic Republic of Congo were underfunded.
(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; editing by Ken Wills)
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