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Syria: no access to Baba Amr

02-03-2012 News Release

Statement - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society (SARC) were not allowed to enter the Baba Amr district of Homs today, 2 March. Yesterday, 1 March, the Syrian authorities had authorized the joint team to enter Baba Amr today, to respond to the humanitarian needs of the people there.

The ICRC and SARC teams have been in Homs since this morning, waiting to enter Baba Amr.

"It is unacceptable that people who have been in need of emergency assistance for weeks have still not received any help," said ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger. "We are staying in Homs tonight in the hope of entering Baba Amr in the very near future. In addition, many families have fled Baba Amr, and we will help them as soon as we possibly can."

"We reiterate the appeal we made several days ago, for a daily two-hour halt in the fighting to allow humanitarian assistance," added Mr Kellenberger. "The humanitarian situation was very serious then and it is worse now."

 

For further information, please contact:

Saleh Dabbakeh, ICRC Damascus, tel: +963 993 700 847 or +963 11 331 0476
Hicham Hassan, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 25 41 or +41 79 536 92 57
Carla Haddad Mardini, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 24 05 or +41 79 217 32 26
Sebastien Carliez, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 28 81 or +41 79 536 92 37
Bijan Farnoudi, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 21 80 or +41 79 536 92 59