Deal to Bring Supplies to Syrian Town Mired in Distrust
By ANNE BARNARD
Government officials and rebels blame one another as no aid is yet
delivered to the the 8,000 civilians in Moadhamiya, just outside the
city limits of Damascus.
By ANNE BARNARD
Published: December 26, 2013
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The rebel-held Syrian town of Moadhamiya hoisted the
government’s flag from its tallest building on Thursday as part of a
tentative truce deal, a symbolic victory for the government, which has
blockaded the town for nearly a year, preventing food and medical
supplies from entering.
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According to antigovernment activists in the town and others familiar
with the deal, government security officials had promised in return to
bring cooked meals into the town, where doctors and activists say at
least half a dozen people have died of malnutrition.
But in an indication of the difficulty of striking and keeping such
pacts in an atmosphere of deep mistrust, by Thursday evening no food had
been delivered, rebels in the town were being accused by comrades
elsewhere of striking a deal for money, and the planned 48-hour
cease-fire appeared to be threatened by clashes between government and
rebel fighters.
The government in recent months has stepped up a strategy of pursuing
small-scale local cease-fires even as it continues to bombard rebel-held
areas and as prospects for a comprehensive peace settlement appear
remote.
Rebels and activists in Moadhamiya said they were under heavy pressure
from the 8,000 civilians there — government supporters put the figure at
around 3,000 — to accept the deal, despite their suspicion that it was a
trick. They also said they believed that daily cooked meals, rather
than bulk food supplies that could be stretched out to provide many
meals, were being offered as a way to control the town, under threat of
stopping the deliveries.
The government says the civilians are being held hostage by the
fighters, while activists there say the government is using starvation
as a weapon of war against the town, which is just outside the city
limits of Damascus, the government-held capital.
Fighters in Moadhamiya have repeatedly pleaded with rebels elsewhere to
help them break the siege, but they face a military challenge because
they are sandwiched between key military installations.
“To this moment we did not get anything,” Qusai Zakarya, the nom de
guerre of a spokesman for Moadhamiya’s rebel council, said Thursday
afternoon via Skype. “We are just waiting, and all the fighters who let
us down are talking and gossiping about us that we sold Moadhamiya out.”
There appeared to be disagreements over the terms. Mr. Zakarya said
initially that the rebels had not agreed to disarm. But later, he and
other activists involved in the negotiations said the government would
not bring food until rebels gave up their heavy weapons and ejected
anyone from the town who was not a legal resident, which would reduce
the ranks of rebel fighters.
A Syrian Parliament member, George Nakhleh, told Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen
television channel that after the rebels handed over their heavy
weapons, residents would establish local armed groups whose job would be
to protect the town, an arrangement that sounds much like the
pro-government militias that have been established elsewhere. He said
the army would not enter the area but instead would guard it from
outside.
“The army will protect Moadhamiya, but inside the town the residents
will protect it,” he said. “They will carry weapons and set up
checkpoints to prevent the entrance of strangers who came from around
the world to destroy our country.”
Another activist who gave only his first name, Ahmed, said clashes had
erupted as government forces tried to approach the town, and rebels had
fired back. He said they were trying to keep the response low-key to
avoid breaking the truce before food arrives.
“If the regime does not bring it tomorrow, we will break it forever and no one can blame us,” he said.
In recent months, several thousand civilians have been evacuated from
Moadhamiya in cease-fires brokered between rebels and the government.
But the brief truces have ended in recriminations, once when shelling broke out as civilians tried to exit the town, and again when activists said hundreds of civilians were arrested soon after leaving.
COPY http://www.nytimes.com/
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