LONDON — With no end to Syria’s five-year-old civil war in sight, rich nations pledged more than $10 billion in aid Thursday to help address the needs of the millions of people displaced by the conflict and prepare for new waves of refugees expected this year.
The total slightly exceeded the public goals set for the donors conference, which was held in London just one day after the temporary but abrupt suspension in Geneva of United Nations-led talks — the first since early 2014 — aimed at a cease-fire among the feuding parties. The donor nations avoided the failure of a similar conference of a year ago to reach its goal, which led to cutbacks in aid that added to the desperation of the refugees and helped spur the mass migration to Europe.
But it was unclear whether the new pledges made on Thursday would be sufficient to meet the need, which seems likely to grow substantially in coming months as more Syrians flee to neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, and as warmer weather leads to a resurgence in those making the perilous trip to seek asylum in Europe. Since the conflict began in 2011, at least 250,000 people have been killed and another 11 million Syrians displaced, including 4 million who have fled the country.
“Our message to the people of Syria and the region is clear: We will stand with you, and we still support you for as long as it takes to secure peace in Syria, to restore stability to the region, and to give Syrian refugees a chance to go back and rebuild their homes and their country,’’ Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said at the conclusion of a daylong conference here, which he hosted with the leaders of German, Kuwait, Norway, and the United Nations.
The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, called the meeting a “great success,’’ saying, “Never has the international community raised so much money on a single day for a single crisis.’’ The money includes almost $6 billion pledged for this year, with another $5 billion committed for use by 2020.
The United States, represented at the conference by Secretary of State John Kerry, pledged about $600 million in new aid, bringing its total aid pledge over the past four years to $5.1 billion, the most of any nation.
The suffering of Syria’s people “should tear at the conscience of all civilized people, and we all have a responsibility to respond to it,’’ Kerry said. “We are compelled to respond to the immediate needs on the ground, and we’re doing so today.’’
Britain pledged an additional $1.8 billion over the next four years, doubling its contributions so far, while Germany promised $2.6 billion by 2018, including $1.2 billion this year.
But there was broad agreement that the only enduring way of addressing the problem was to bring an end to the fighting, a prospect that was no nearer after the suspension of the Geneva talks on Wednesday.
Those talks are intended to forge a cease-fire among an array of parties, including President Bashar Assad and a large and fragmented array of opposition groups.
