DAVID ADAMS reports…
Humanitarian aid has finally arrived in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya amid reports of people starving to death but the UN says it remains “equally concerned” about the almost 400,000 people living in 15 other besieged locations across Syria.
The organisation announced yesterday that a convoy of 49 vehicles had reached residents of the town, currently encircled by pro-Syrian Government forces.
ARRIVAL: The humanitarian aid convoy that has reached Madaya. PICTURE: OCHA Syria
“It’s heart-breaking to see so many hungry people around.”
– Sajjad Malik, representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Sajjad Malik, representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and among the first to reach the town, said it was “heartbreaking” to see so many hungry people.
“Crowds of hungry kids around,” he reportedly said in a text message. “It’s heart-breaking to see so many hungry people around. It’s cold and raining but there is excitement because we are here with food and blankets.”
Medicines Sans Frontieres reportedly said on Sunday that as many as 28 people had starved to death in Madaya since 1st December. People have been reportedly forced to eat dogs and cats and leaves off trees.
As well as in Madaya – where further convoys organised by the UN, International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are expected in coming days, the UN said humanitarian aid had also reached towns of Foah and Kefraya, near the Turkish border in north-west Syria, which had also faced severe food shortages and are under siege by opposition forces. As many as 20,000 people have been trapped in the two villages since early last year.
The UN last week said last week it was alarmed at the deteriorating situation in the town of almost 42,000 people – half of them children, and that it had received credible reports of people starving to death. The town, located in mountains about 40 kilometres north-west of Damascus, last received humanitarian aid in October.
Describing the situation last week as “ghastly”, a UN spokesman stressed that the deliberate starvation of civilians amounted to war crimes.
The UN says that up to 4.5 million people in Syria live in hard-to-reach places, including the almost 400,000 people in 15 besieged locations. It points out that only 10 per cent of all requests to access these besieged areas with humanitarian aid were approved last year.
