ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Amid diplomatic efforts and peace talks to bring an end to the war in Syria, thousands of civilians still remain trapped in parts of the country without access to food and water and the United Nations urges all parties to reach an agreement that allow “immediate and unfettered humanitarian access” to four towns.
The UN says that more than 60,000 civilians trapped in the towns of Al-Zabadani, Al-Fu’ah, Kafraya and Madaya.
Ali Al-Za’tari, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, said on Monday that the siege was unfair and unjustified.
“The unfair and totally unjustified besiegement is compounded by the tit-for-tat arrangement between the Four Towns, which makes humanitarian access prone to painstaking negotiations that are not based on humanitarian principles,” he said in a press release.
The organization says that the four towns mentioned were part of an earlier agreement to let through humanitarian aid, “However, these places have remained inaccessible for humanitarian workers since November last year.”
Syrian government representatives and opposition leaders are gearing up for a new round of talks in Geneva later this month following talks in the Kazakh capital Astana last month for an end to six years of war and a political settlement.
The UN’s Al-Za’tari urged these negotiating parties to keep the plight of the trapped civilians in mind and agreement on open access to their areas “to allow urgent humanitarian assistance, including medical evacuations, to take place without delay.”
“This has prevented medical cases from receiving proper treatment and evacuation. People are in need, and they cannot wait any longer. We need to act now," Za'tari said.
Apart from hunger and malnutrition the civilians are also exposed to violence on a daily basis, the UN reports.
The press release went on to say that “The moral and ethical accountability befalls all those who hinder this access, the release read, adding that the UN and humanitarian partners stand ready to provide humanitarian assistance to the Four Towns as soon as negotiations with the parties to the conflict come to conclusion.”
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