The humanitarian situation in Syria and in refugee camps in neighbouring countries
continues to deteriorate.
April 23,2014 Speaking to Vatican Radio on Easter Monday, the Apostolic Nuncio to
Syria, Archbishop Mario Zenari said that, in the Yarmouk district of Damascus, a neighbourhood
of some 18 thousand people, in which the Nunciature is located, and in many other
places as well, there are numerous people already living in conditions of starvation,
and many more near starvation. “This is something we cannot accept,” and something
the international community cannot accept, he said. The Nuncio said “Aid is ready:
It is there at the gates of these villages and neighbourhoods, and because of a lack
of security, humanitarian agencies are unable to enter, the Apostolic Nuncio added. Pope
Francis has appealed repeatedly for an end to violence in Syria and a return to good-faith
negotiations to find a permanent solution to the conflict .His most recent appeal
came in his Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi address, in which he prayed, “that all those
suffering the effects of the conflict can receive needed humanitarian aid, and that
neither side will again use deadly force, especially against the defenceless civil
population, but instead boldly negotiate the long awaited and long overdue peace.
peace long awaited and long overdue.”Source: CWN