United Nations confirm images of starving children in Madaya, Syria tell the real story

Medicines Sans Frontieres says 28 people, including six babies, have died from malnutrition in the Syrian town of Madaya since December. Meanwhile, the United Nations has also confirmed the videos and photos shown on social media are in fact an accurate depiction of Madaya's plight.
 
TIM PALMER: When a long-awaited aid convoy finally rolled into the besieged Syrian town of Madaya last night, its residents cried with relief.
Under siege by government troops and Hezbollah militants, food supplies last entered in October, then the town began to starve.
Medicines Sans Fronties say 28 people died of malnutrition since December, six of them babies.
UN officials inside the town last night confirmed the horror of the siege of Madaya.
Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill has been communicating with people inside Madaya and I spoke to her a short time ago from Jerusalem.
Sophie, you spoke to the Red Cross spokesman last night, just as he entered Madaya. What did he tell you?

SOPHIE MCNEIL: Yes, Tim. I spoke to Pawel Krzysiek, who works for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Damascus and he'd been part of this convoy.
He'd just entered the town and his first impressions were the people there just: he said, "They looked pale, tired, exhausted." And he said, "It's certain that there was not enough food here in Madaya for a very, very long time."
He said people were happy that they were, you know, many of them were overjoyed to finally see this convoy arrived. People had been starving to death in this town.
The UN has confirmed that. Mecins Sans Fronties puts the number at 28 people, six babies - that have starved to death since December.
So he said people were overjoyed but there was also a lot of anger, he said. He said people wanted to know why the world had let them suffer like this for such a long time.

TIM PALMER: Well, certainly there'd been some dire images posted to social media in the recent days, purporting to be from Madaya. At the same time there'd been criticism that the situation there was being exaggerated for political purposes.
What has the United Nations said since this convoy entered the town last night about that debate?

SOPHIE MCNEIL: We've been trying so hard, Tim, to verify what's going on Madaya. A lot of the world's media has received these videos. The ABC has been speaking to a doctor inside the town that sent photos and videos of children - like, skeletal children, emaciated children and men. People saying they hadn't eaten in days.
And the response from supporters of the Syrian government, of the Assad regime, was to say that this was all made up; that this wasn't true. And they actually cited their own social media campaign to try and discredit these claims of people starving to death.
Last night you had independent officials from the United Nations there in the town who said that basically the world's worst fears had been confirmed.
This is what the UN representative for the Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, it's known as OCHA and their chief official is called Yacoub El Hillo - and this is what he had to say after seeing Madaya last night.

YACOUB EL HILLO: It was at times difficult to determine whether what we were seeing was actually fabricated or exaggerated. It is not. It is not. I am sad to say it is not.
These are true stories coming out of Madaya.

TIM PALMER: That was the UN representative for humanitarian affairs in Syria, Yacoub El Hillo.
Sophie, the town's been under siege for six months now. There were reports people had been shot or attacked as they tried to escape. Did anyone get out?

SOPHIE MCNEIL: There were images, pictures from Reuters news agency of a few families, mainly women and children, that were allowed out of the gates of this town last night. But many people basically are still stuck inside, not allowed to leave.
The accusation has been that the Syrian government forces and Hezbollah militants have surrounded the town; that there are land mines. There's a huge mountain on the other side. People just couldn't get out so that's why they were starving to death.
And OCHA, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs Coordination, they also put out a statement saying that 400 people needed to be evacuated immediately.
So the main aim of this convoy was to bring food, medical aid, not to bring people out. But after they went into the town, they saw the state of the people inside, the people still starving to death. They said that 400 people needed to be evacuated immediately because they were in grave peril of losing their lives.

TIM PALMER: Ok. What's the Syrian government's response been to the events of the past 24 hours - and to the broader accusation that it's been using starvation as a weapon of war?

SOPHIE MCNEIL: Well, they've rejected this claim that they are deliberately starving their own people. But it's come down to whether people believe the Syrian government or whether they believe organisations like the United Nations and Mecins Sans Fronties.
This is what Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar al-Ja'afari, had to say today in New York.

BASHAR AL-JA'AFARI: The Syrian government did not stop any convoys of humanitarian assistance. On the contrary, we sent plenty of convoys and we asked the UN to send more. But the more you send to these terrorists, they will confiscate humanitarian assistance and use it at the detriment of the civilian population.

SOPHIE MCNEIL: The Syrian government sees anyone opposed to its rule as terrorists and there are claims that rebels in this town did take food; did hold it; did not share it with civilians inside.
But the main accusation is that people weren't allowed out to go and get their own food; that Syrian government forces kept them inside this town as they starved to death.
Now, the rebels, they are certainly not, they don't look good in this situation. They have been accused of doing exactly the same thing to government towns and there are actually 400,000 people in all of Syria that live in besieged conditions like Madaya. So Madaya is one case that has come to the world's attention but here are many other people in Syria, Tim, who unfortunately don't have enough to eat either.

TIM PALMER: And hard to see that one day's aid to one town's going to solve that situation. Our Middle East correspondent, Sophie McNeil, speaking live from Jerusalem.


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