The war has raged on since last month when the Security Council endorsed a plan for peace talks, a rare case of U.S.-Russian agreement over a conflict that has killed 250,000 people. However, the United Nations said Thursday it had received “credible reports” of people dying of starvation and said that the Syrian government had agreed to allow aid convoys into Madaya, Foah and Kefraya.
Advertisement
The entry of the convoys to Madaya was conditioned to the rebels’ acceptance to allow humanitarian aid into the two besieged towns, loyal to the government.
“The European Union welcomes it and expects it will be fully implemented and extended by all parties to all the cities under siege”.
Local activists and residents in Madaya, under siege since July by both government and allied Hezbollah forces, told Human Rights Watch in phone interviews that the government has prevented aid from going in since October.
According to the UN, Syrian government forces have 200,000 people under siege in Eastern Ghouta, Daraya, Zabadani, and Madaya; Islamic State (also known as ISIS) forces have 200,000 people under siege in Deir ez-Zour; and armed groups, including the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front, have 12,500 more people under siege in Fu’a and Kefraya, in Idlib.
Humanitarian groups could begin delivering much-needed aid in three besieged Syrian towns as early as Sunday, spokesmen said on Friday. But aid agencies say there are around 2 million people in Syria effectively cut off by the fighting.
While unable to confirm Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports that six of 23 persons who starved to death in Madaya in December were children, he voiced great concern at the devastating humanitarian situation, particularly the lack of food for children and of basic supplies amid a harsh winter.
They said it was “astonishing that so little has been done by the global community” to break sieges and get aid through.
“Madaya is now effectively an open air prison for an estimated 20,000 people, including infants, children and elderly”. Adding to the difficulty of reaching the citizens of this city in order to relieve Syrian starvation are the numerous landmines and the treacherous travel across snow covered mountains that is required in order to reach these people.
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem is expected to discuss the flow of aid during talks with United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is due Saturday in Damascus on a new mission to organise peace talks between the regime and its opponents.
“We find that it will not be possible to start negotiations while bombardments continue on civilian areas and residents”, Riad Nassan Agha, a member of the opposition body, told Reuters. “We need not to forget that there are others, hundreds of thousands of people, who are still in besiegement”.
“We are awaiting answers from Mr Di Mistura”.
Access to Madaya and nearby Zabadani had been restricted by pro-regime forces, while Fuaa and Kafraya, in northwest Syria, are surrounded by anti-government fighters.
Advertisement
Worldwide relief agencies are preparing to deliver food to Madaya in the coming days after reports from there shocked the world. “We are loading the trucks and sending the movement notifications”, Krzysiek said.
