JOINT STATEMENT
by joint coordination headquarters of the Russian Federation and the Syrian Arab Republic “On the plight of the Rukban camp refugees”
March 12, 2019.
Today is the 1,776th day of suffering of Syrian citizens forcibly detained in Rukban refugee camp by US-controlled armed groups. The American side took non-constructive actions, leading to new victims and multiplying the suffering of those Syrians, forcibly seized in the US-controlled 55-kilometer zone.
We continue to closely monitor the situation in the camp, which continues to deteriorate. There is still severe shortage of food supplies, warm clothes and medication. There is a severe sanitary and epidemiological situation. People suffer from exhaustion, acute intestinal diseases and infections. The shortage of drinking water is particularly serious.
Here we must pay tribute to the authorities of Jordan, who organized the supply of water for the residents of the Rukban, because without this it is not at all clear how the refugees would have to survive in this camp. It is only the goodwill of the Jordanian side that let them have the drink and the ability to cook.
Despite the efforts of the Jordanians, the water in the camp is critically lacking.
The satellite image clearly shows how the water is supplied to the camp. Behind the camp wall there are 210 cu m tanks, into which they pour water brought from the territory of Jordan, and inside the camp there are bottling points for the residents. A simple calculation shows that each resident of the camp can receive no more than 5 liters of water per day. This volume is barely enough for cooking and drinking, but not enough for washing and laundering, which leads to poor sanitation.
Well, residents of the camp can not always get this little, because the US-controlled militants of Magavir Al-Saura periodically hamper the delivery of water to Rukban, using it for blackmailing and speculation.
When monitoring we reveal more new facts of a humanitarian catastrophe in the camp. In addition to previously published photographs testifying to the presence of burial places near the Rukban territory, where at least 300 people were buried, we found three more spontaneously formed cemeteries located in the camp itself in the immediate vicinity of the dwellings and bottling points, which are another source of infectious diseases.
In total, there are about 700 graves in the discovered burial places. It is possible that in reality the situation is even worse, because in many graves several Syrian citizens who passed away in the Rukban camp can be buried at once.
Garbage dumps are also located absolutely randomly near residential buildings and are not taken out.
All this is situated in a desert, far from the Syrian settlements and infrastructure, which creates insurmountable difficulties in providing support to the camp residents.
In this situation, we very much look forward to a speedy review of position by the UN and the US concerning the existence of the Rukban camp. Such a disastrous situation of its inhabitants can no longer continue. It is urgent to take measures to save them, and this is possible only through the evacuation of citizens to their homes.
On the part of the Syrian authorities, everything is ready for this, only the goodwill of the American side, which fully controls the situation in the Al-Tanf zone, is required.
Head of Russian Joint Coordination Committee on Repatriation of Syrian Refugees – Head of National Centre for State Defence Control of the Russian Federation
Mizintsev M.
Head of Syrian Joint Coordination Committee on Repatriation of Syrian Refugees – Local Administration Minister of the Syrian Arab Republic
Makhlouf H.
- Russian Syrian Joint Coordination Headquarters March 11, 2019 Report on the Plight of the Syrians in Rukban Camp
- Joint Statement “On the Plight of Syrians Illegally Seized by the US-controlled Armed Gangs in the Rukban Camp”
- Russian Defence Ministry Statements on the Situation in al-Rukban Refugee Camp
SYRIA 360° INTERNATIONALIST 