PARIS, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Syria is heading for a humanitarian crisis and the EU, Arab League and Turkey must work together on how to deliver aid, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Tuesday.
Paris has proposed creating "humanitarian corridors" with Syrian approval or with an international mandate for shipping food and medicine to alleviate civilian suffering while Damascus cracks down on an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
"With every day that passes we are getting closer to a major humanitarian crisis," Juppe told lawmakers before a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Thursday.
"I will ask the European Union on Thursday to bring closer the Arab League, Turkey and the 27 (EU) member states to take initiatives in this direction," he said.
The United Nations humanitarian coordinator said on Saturday that three million people had been affected by the violence, and Syria's Red Crescent has sought help to feed 1.5 million people.
Juppe said Paris wants a consensus between the EU, Arab League and Turkey, which neighbours Syria, to be reached this week and has asked its U.N. envoy to begin consultations.
The French plan could link Syrian civilian centres to the frontiers of Turkey and Lebanon, to the Mediterranean coast or to an airport. It aims to enable transport of humanitarian supplies or medicines to civilians.
Juppe has said the plan falls short of military intervention but has acknowledged that if the Syria does not support the idea, Paris would seek a U.N. Security Council mandate.
"I have also instructed our permanent representative to start consultations at the heart of (the Security) Council," he said. "The idea is to give the Syrian regime an ultimatum so that it meets its international obligations to allow access to humanitarian aid." (Reporting By John Irish; editing by David Stamp)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
