Over 150 tons of aid dispatched through KRG border to Rojava: Dindar Zebari

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Coordinator for International Advocacy, Dindar Zebari, on Tuesday told Kurdistan 24 that over 150 tons of aid have been dispatched to Rojava through the KRG’s border-crossing of Semelka by international aid groups to assist Rojava in its fight with the coronavirus pandemic.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Coordinator for International Advocacy, Dindar Zebari, on Tuesday told Kurdistan 24 that over 150 tons of aid have been dispatched to Rojava through the KRG’s border-crossing of Semelka by international aid groups to assist Rojava in its fight with the coronavirus pandemic.

In late April, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report titled, “Syria: Aid Restrictions Hinder Covid-19 Response,” in which it claimed the KRG had imposed restrictions on medical aid being supplied to Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava).

Following the report, Zebari denied the claims, citing several NGOs such as Doctors without Borders and International Medical Corps (IMC) that delivered aid to Rojava.

Read More: KRG denies HRW claims on restricting medical supply to Rojava

The KRG’s assistance to Rojava since the eruption of the outbreak has been direct and indirect, Zebari told Kurdistan 24. “We, as the region, have directly provided aid [to Rojava] such as providing laboratories, medical equipment, and essential testing kits,” Zebari revealed as he explained the government’s direct contributions to Rojava’s fight against COVID-19.

The KRG has assisted all the NGOs who seek to deliver aid to Rojava through the Semelka border crossing by exempting the organizations of customs fees, Zebari added.

After the United Nations Security Council vote in early May to centralize cross-border deliveries of medical aid into the grips of Damascus, the Yaroubiya border crossing along the Iraqi border, where 1.6 million people were benefiting from the humanitarian assistance coming through it, was scrapped.

The closure has exacerbated the delivery of humanitarian assistance into the Kurdish-held region in northeast Syria, leaving the Syrian Kurds to rely on the unofficial Semelka border crossing with the Kurdistan Region. The COVID-19 outbreak in northeast Syria has further exacerbated the humanitarian conditions in Rojava.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany