Donors pledge USD 4.4 billion for Syria, well short of target

International donors today pledged USD 4.4 billion in aid for 2018 for civilians caught up in the Syrian civil war -- well short of what the UN says is needed for humanitarian work in Syria and neighbouring countries.

The sum committed at a two-day conference in Brussels was less than half of the USD 9 billion the United Nations says is needed this year to help those in need inside Syria and living as refugees in neighbouring countries.

The head of the UN aid agency UNOCHA called the USD 4.4 billion "a good start" but Oxfam slammed the international response as "tragically inadequate".

"My best guess is that by the end of the day we will have heard pledges for 2018 of USD 4.4 billion," Mark Lowcock, the head of UNOCHA, told a news conference.

The EU's aid commissioner Christos Stylianides said later that pledges of a further USD 3.4 billion for 2019 and after were made at the conference, attended by more than 80 countries, aid groups and agencies.

Britain announced 450 million pounds (USD 630 million, 515 million euros) for 2018 and another 300 million pounds for 2019, while Germany said it would donate more than a billion euros and the EU pledged some 560 million euros.

But several major donors including the United States have not yet confirmed their pledges, Lowcock said, because of ongoing internal budget wrangling.

Lowcock earlier told AFP he hoped to see $8 billion pledged on Wednesday, warning that funds were "desperately short" and some programmes may need to be cut if money was not found.