SYRIAN REFUGEES CAMPED AT JORDAN BORDER GIVEN FIRST AID IN SIX MONTHS

Amman approves one-off delivery to Rukban camp in no-man’s land after UN plans supply line from inside Syria

About 50,000 Syrian refugees camped in a desert area on the border with Jordan received their first aid supplies in six months yesterday after Amman agreed to “a one time only” arrangement.

The aid delivery was approved by the Jordanian government on Sunday as an exceptional measure, after the UN put forward a plan for future aid deliveries to the Rukban camp to be made from inside Syrian territory.

Aid agencies have struggled for months to convince the government to grant them access to the camp, which is between two berms in the no-man’s land on the Syrian-Jordanian border.

Jordan, which hosts an estimated 1.3 million Syrian refugees from Syria’s civil war, of whom only 655,000 are registered with the UN refugee agency, considers the Rukban camp the responsibility of Syria and international community.

“It is an exceptional measure and purely for humanitarian reasons,” said Mohammad Al Kayed, spokesman for the ministry of foreign and expatriate affairs.

“It is not Jordan’s responsibility to provide aid to the refugees, it is the UN’s.”

Jordan’s Petra news agency said the approval was granted after an agreement between a foreign ministry committee, aid agencies and the UN.

“It took months of negotiations and pressure from UN agencies, embassies and donors to convince Jordan to allow access of aid to the camp,” said a UN agency official.

The aid, which was dropped over the border by cranes and carried to the camp in lorries, is meant to tide over the refugees until the procedures for the delivery of assistance from with Syria are finalised.

The dire living conditions at the Rukban camp, which began to take shape in 2014 as Jordan restricted the entry of refugees through a border crossing in the area, have been made worse by the onset of winter and limited access to health care.

“There is malnutrition and families have run out of money and resources, while others rely on smugglers to get basic goods that are overpriced,” the UN official said.

“It is not a proper settlement and they are using the flimsiest shelters.

“It is biting cold and the environment is not safe.”

Another aid official said conditions at the camp were especially hard for children, women and the elderly. “The main challenge right now is the weather and the limited access to food and other supplies,” he said.

“They have been there for almost two years and they are short of any assistance.”

UN agencies refused to reveal details of aid delivery that began yesterday, saying they did not want it to be affected by media exposure.

But Rakan Khdeir, commander of a Syrian tribal force charged with protecting the camp, said the aid delivery would continue for a week.

“Initially, 10,000 baskets, which contain 10 kilos of sugar and 10 kilos of rice and tea, will be delivered, as well as clothes, throughout the entire week,” Mr Khdeir said.

“The delivery went smoothly today.”

The civilian administration at the camp posted videos of lorries delivering aid to the refugees.

The flow of aid to the camp was interrupted after an ISILclaimed suicide attack on a nearby border outpost in June 2016 killed seven members of Jordan’s security forces.

The last delivery of supplies to the camp was between May and June last year.

According to the UN refugee agency, only 35,000 people, mostly women and children, received the food, hygiene kits and solar lamps.

“I blame the international community for turning its back,” Mr Khdeir said.

“Jordan cannot shoulder the entire burden. We are facing a humanitarian issue.”