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France, UK, US call for UN meeting on lifting Syrian sieges France, UK, US call for UN meeting on lifting Syrian sieges
(35 minutes later)
UNITED NATIONS — France, Britain and the United States have asked for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to press for the lifting of sieges on Syrian cities and towns where some 400,000 people are unable to get humanitarian aid. UNITED NATIONS — The United States, France and Britain called Thursday for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting to press Syria’s warring parties to lift sieges on towns where hundreds of thousands have been cut off from aid and reports of starvation have emerged.
France’s U.N. mission confirmed that a request for a public meeting was made Thursday to Uruguay, which currently holds the rotating council presidency. It said no date has yet been scheduled. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also stepped up the pressure, calling for both the Syrian government and rebels to end the sieges before peace talks scheduled for Jan. 25 in Geneva as a confidence-building measure.
The request follows this week’s delivery of aid to three besieged Syrian towns including Madaya, where the U.N. reported severe malnutrition and people looking like “skeletons.” Ban said the United Nations and its humanitarian partners are able to deliver food to only 1 percent of the 400,000 people under siege in Syria, down from an already dismal 5 percent just over a year ago.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and many other officials have called for all sieges in Syria to be lifted. “This is utterly unconscionable,” Ban said at a news conference.
Ban said both the Syrian government and rebels are committing war crimes by deliberately starving civilians and must face justice.
“U.N. teams have witnessed scenes that haunt the soul. The elderly and children, men and women, who were little more than skin and bones: gaunt, severely malnourished, so weak they could barely walk, and utterly desperate for the slightest morsel,” Ban said. “I would say that they are being held hostage — but it is even worse. Hostages get fed.”
France’s U.N. mission said a request for an emergency meeting was made Thursday to Uruguay, which holds the rotating Security Council presidency. Britain’s mission said the meeting was requested for Friday afternoon, but it has not yet been scheduled.
Trucks from the U.N. and other humanitarian organizations entered three besieged communities in Syria this week for the first time in months.
The town of Madaya has been under siege for months by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The two other towns, Foua and Kfarya, have been besieged by Syrian rebels.
“Let me be clear: the use of the starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime,” Ban said. “All sides, including the Syrian government, which has the primary responsibility to protect Syrians, are committing this and other atrocious acts prohibited under international humanitarian law.”
In a speech to the General Assembly earlier Thursday, Ban said all sides must be held accountable. He told reporters later that it would be up to the Security Council to decide whether to refer the matter the International Criminal Court. Such efforts have been vetoed in the past by Russia, an ally of the Assad government.
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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this story from the United Nations.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.