BUHARI AT SYRIA DONOR CONFERENCE, SYMPATHISES WITH SYRIA

President Muhammadu Buhari is among the over 80 world leaders who converged on London on Thursday for the ‘Supporting Syria and the region’ conference holding at the Queen Elizabeth 11 Conference Centre in London.

In his speech, President Buhari applauded the initiative to protect the people of Syria from the vicious war.

He joined the world in condemning the violence and abuse of human rights and sheer destruction of lives and property.

He said that Nigeria shares the same experience with Syria following the experience from Boko Haram insurgency and therefore feels the pains the people of Syria feel.

He urged all the parties to engage in peaceful talks as only a political agreement would bring the tragedy to an end.

He said that military option would only prolong the war and killing of innocent civilians. He extended the sympathy of Nigerians to the suffering people of Syria.

He pledged to support in spite of the difficulties back home.

Also speaking, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki Moon, joined the host president and British Prime Minister, Mr David Cameron, to condemn the human rights abuses going on in Syria.

Mr Cameron was passionate about the call to raise fund for the suffering masses in Syria but called for more action while the UN Secretary General Ban KI Moon said that at least seven billion dollars must be raised.

According to him, even if the war in Syria ends immediately, the suffering of the people would not end immediately. He said that only political dialogue can rescue the Syrian people.

The world leaders said that over 80 billion US Dollars would be needed in 2016 alone to keep up with the needs.

They said that the whole world have a responsibility to commit to getting Syrian children into school, within months and not years.

Every country under the United Nations had a desk in the main plenary room.

Over 13.5 million people of Syria and the region, for over five years, have witnessed the worst humanitarian devastation following the crisis in that country.