Madaya: UN aid chief calls for emergency evacuation

By Euronews with Reuters, AFP, UN News Service

Published on 12/01/2016 - 08:23

Security Council hears reports of hundreds in "grave peril" in the besieged Syrian town

UN calls for emergency evacuation
“Hundreds” need urgent attention
Syrian government denies blocking aid

The news

The head of humanitarian aid for the UN is calling for an emergency evacuation of the seriously malnourished from Madaya.

Stephen O’Brien estimates around 400 people in the besieged Syrian town need urgent medical treatment

An urgently-called meeting of the UN Security Council heard reports of people dying due to lack of food and medical attention.

The UN says the reports are credible.

I told SecCo that today in #Madaya, we found some 400 people who must be evacuated IMMEDIATELY for medical treatment or face dying #Syria
— Stephen O'Brien (@UNReliefChief) January 12, 2016

“Around 400 people have been identified who must be evacuated immediately. We must seek to do this and put the arrangements in place as soon as at all possible for medical treatment or they are in grave peril of losing their lives.” said Mr O’Brien.

A UN Security Council resolution adopted on December the 18th set out a road map for peace talks and called on all the parties to allow aid workers unhindered access throughout Syria, particularly in beseiged and hard-to-reach areas.

“Starve or surrender”

.AmbassadorPower</a> today on the 70th anniversary of the first <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNGA?src=hash">#UNGA</a> meeting and the crisis in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Madaya?src=hash">#Madaya</a>→<a href="https://t.co/eV3Id4jWKG">https://t.co/eV3Id4jWKG</a></p>— US Mission to the UN (USUN) January 11, 2016

The US Ambassador to the UN criticised the Syrian government for its role in the crisis.

Samantha Power said the Syrian government has resorted to “grotesque starve-or-surrender tactics against its own people.”

“There are hundreds of thousands of people being deliberately besieged, deliberately starved, right now. And these images, they remind us of World War Two.”

Power was also speaking at the special session of the 193-nation UN General Assembly.

70 years ago & now – on 10 January 1946 the #UNGA met in London for the very first time https://t.co/lcgq4XqTpV pic.twitter.com/MloTe5Z34k
— United Nations (@UN) January 11, 2016

“False information” – Syrian government

Syria’s Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Bashar al-Ja’afari, on Russia’s involvement in fighting… https://t.co/sKVfzPRXW2 pic.twitter.com/dZ4U7Dibe5
— Eva Bartlett (@EvaBartlettGaza) October 9, 2015

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’afaritold reporters in New York his government was committed to “cooperate fully” on aid delivery but said much of what was said about Madaya is based on “false information.”

He dismissed pictures of starving people as “fabrications.”

“There is no shortage of humanitarian assistance in Madaya,” he added, saying that some aid has been “looted” by armed terrorist groups.

“A desperate need for humanitarian intervention”

#Syria: UN</a> and partners get relief convoy to starving residents of besieged town of Madaya <a href="https://t.co/Zh5byzsVUk">https://t.co/Zh5byzsVUk</a> <a href="https://t.co/X10abHquJN">pic.twitter.com/X10abHquJN</a></p>— UN News Centre (UN_News_Centre) January 11, 2016

“Heart-breaking to see so many hungry people” -UNHCR Rep. in Syria as trucks entered #Madaya https://t.co/33gHlwSllD pic.twitter.com/DzrB5y1n99
— UN News Centre (@UN_News_Centre) January 11, 2016

International aid supplies have finally arrived in the town, which is 25 kilometres from Damascus and has been under siege for six months.

The aid in facts

Hundreds 'on brink of death' in Madaya need urgent evacuation https://t.co/GgabK7bTjB pic.twitter.com/3KsWOAPZL0
— Telegraph News (@TelegraphNews) January 12, 2016