No ‘worse place on earth’ than Syria’s Raqqa, says senior UN adviser urging pause in fighting

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24 August 2017 – A senior United Nations aid official today urged the international community to do whatever is needed to allow citizens to flee from Raqqa, describing the de facto capital of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), the &#8220worse place on earth.&#8221

Briefing journalists in Geneva, UN Special Adviser Jan Egeland said the five neighbourhoods held by ISIL in Raqqa are heavily shelled from the surrounding and encircling forces, and under constant air raids by the Coalition.

&#8220Now is the time to think of possibilities, pauses or otherwise that might facilitate the escape of civilians, knowing that Islamic State fighters are doing their absolute best to use them as human shields,&#8221 Mr. Egeland said. &#8220I cannot think of a worse place on earth now than in these five neighborhoods and for these 20,000 people.&#8221

He urged members from the Humanitarian Task Force, including the members of the Coalition that is supporting the retake of Raqqa, to &#8220do whatever is possible to make it possible for the people to escape.&#8221

The International Syria Support Group (ISSG) established the respective taskforces on humanitarian aid delivery and a wider ceasefire. They have been meeting separately since early 2016 on a way forward in the crisis. Russia and the United States are the co-chairs of the taskforces and the ISSG, which also comprises the UN, the Arab League, the European Union and 16 other countries.

Mr. Egeland went on to note that the difference between the situation in Raqqa and that in Aleppo or other besieged areas was that that UN had contact with those holding those neighbourhoods.

&#8220There is not a two-way communication, and there seems to be a very deliberate policy of holding people, and using them as human shields. But this is the time to try anything to allow their safe escape,&#8221 he said, adding that few people are leaving now out of fear of death.

More than 260,000 people from the northern Iraqi city escaped and are receiving aid from 50 concentration points. Inside the city, however, conditions are &#8220very bleak&#8221 and &#8220it is very hard to assist.&#8221

The senior UN official also noted the situation in Deir ez-Zor, the town where forces are encircling, and which is believed to be home to some 90,000 people.

&#8220Extreme caution now also there has to be exercised, not to make it in anyway worse, for the civilian population,&#8221 he said.

Among other locations mentioned in his briefing, Mr. Egeland said it was &#8220heart-breaking&#8221 that aid was not allowed in to Fou and Kefraya, as well as Yarmouk, the Palestinian camp near Damascus, as had been agreed, after parties changed their minds.

Earlier in the briefing, UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy reiterated Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura’s support and appreciation for the international humanitarian task force, and countries who have worked with the parties to the conflict to allow in aid.

Mr. de Mistura is expected to brief the Security Council on political developments in relations to Syria on Wednesday, 30 August.