German, Austrian ministers cancel Syria trip after ‘urgent threat’

Germany’s acting Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and her Austrian counterpart, Gerhard Karner, called off a planned trip to Syria on Thursday following warnings about a potential terrorist attack.

“Due to a very urgent threat of terrorism, we weighed up carefully what it means for the safety of those accompanying us and have come to the conclusion that it would be better to cancel the trip,” said Faeser in Amman, where she and Karner were staying.

After a first tip-off late on Wednesday evening, the two ministers and their security advisers conferred until the early morning, a spokesman for the German Interior Ministry said.

“This incident also shows that the security situation in Syria remains fragile,” the spokesperson said.

The trip will be rescheduled, although a new date has not yet been set.

Instead of heading to Syria, Faeser’s delegation then set off from Amman to visit the Zaatari refugee camp for Syrians who had fled the years of fighting in the country.

The two ministers had been due to meet two members of Syria’s transitional government and representatives from United Nations aid organizations.

The talks, which were to focus on security issues and the prospects for Syrian refugees’ return, were to be held under high security and had not been publicly announced.

“Germany and Austria are working hard to ensure that serious offenders and persons posing a danger who are Syrian nationals can be returned to Syria as quickly as possible,” the ministry spokesman said.

The German government has been under pressure to return Syrians who had fled the regime of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.

For more than two months, the ministry has been working on a regulation that would allow refugees from Syria to travel back to their home country for a short time without risking their residence status in Germany.

The idea is that the Syrians should have the opportunity to find out whether they consider it safe to return home.

Faeser said that it was important to provide basic services such as housing, electricity, drinking water and schooling. As long as this was not provided, many refugees who actually wanted to return would hesitate, she said.

According to an employee of the UN refugee agency UNHCR, who met Faeser at the Zaatari camp some 20 kilometres from the Syrian border, around 5,700 refugees had voluntarily returned to Syria from the camp since the fall of al-Assad in early December.