The EU yesterday welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s decision to allow humanitarian access to the town of Madaya and called for a halt to attacks ahead of peace talks later this month.
The war in Syria has killed an estimated quarter of a million people in nearly five years, ravaging the country and creating a breeding ground for militants as regional allies and global players back different sides in the conflict.
The UN hopes to convene talks between Damascus and the Syrian opposition on Jan. 25 and the blockade of Madaya, near the border with Lebanon, has become a focal issue for al-Assad’s opponents.
Photo: AFP / HO / ICRC
“The decision of the Syrian regime to allow humanitarian access in Madaya is a first step in the right direction,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides said in a joint statement.
“The European Union welcomes it and expects it will be fully implemented and extended by all parties to all the cities under siege,” the statement said.
A new Syrian opposition group created to oversee peace negotiations has demanded that Damascus halt the bombardment of civilian areas and the use of barrel bombs and urged the Syrian government to release detainees before the talks, calls echoed by Mogherini and Stylianides.
“It will be important to implement concrete confidence-building measures in support of the upcoming intra-Syrian political talks scheduled to start at the end of January: an end to attacks on civilians, to aerial bombardments and sieges of civilian areas,” the EU statement said.
Aid group Doctors Without Borders [MSF] said 23 patients have died of starvation at a health center in one of three villages since Dec. 1, including six infants under one year old and five adults over the age of 60.
Activists have said that several people have died over the past weeks because of malnutrition.
Doctors Without Borders called for an immediate delivery of medicine and medical evacuations, in addition to food supplies to Madaya, where it reported the 23 deaths from starvation.
After the last, single food delivery in October, the siege of the village tightened into a complete stranglehold, the group said.
“Madaya is now effectively an open-air prison for an estimated 20,000 people, including infants, children and elderly,” MSF director of operations Brice de le Vingne said. “This is a clear example of the consequences of using siege as a military strategy.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique