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Aid Agency Chief: Syrian Refugees Creating 'Regional Crisis'

Aid Agency Chief: Syrian Refugees Creating 'Regional Crisis'
Syrian refugees walk among tents at the Karkamis refugee camp near Gaziantep, Turkey.

By    |   Tuesday, 21 January 2014 10:27 AM EST

In light of upcoming international peace talks between the opposing sides in Syria's civil war, former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the numbers of refugees resulting from the war has created a "regional crisis" that demands attention.

"This is a regional crisis that demands a big international engagement," Miliband, who is president and CEO of aid agency International Rescue Committee, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Tuesday.

The conflict in Syria has resulted in a "scale of brutality ... that hasn't been seen for a very long time," Miliband said.

As a result, millions of people are taking refuge in neighboring countries. He called for the international response to be "massively scaled up."

Invitations were sent to 40 countries for a one-day meeting this week of foreign ministers for peace talks in Switzerland. Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations-Arab League special envoy to Syria, will moderate the meeting.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in the three-year conflict between Syrian rebels and the government of President Bashar Assad. Miliband maintained the upcoming peace talks would not end the war, but could bring attention to how the war is waged.

"I think it's important to say that this peace conference, so called, no one believes it's going to bring peace tomorrow. But it can address the conduct of the war, in terms of the targeting of civilians, in terms of the starving of the people in Aleppo [Syria]," he said.

Half of the Syrian population has been displaced from their homes into neighboring countries like Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, Miliband explained. He said the majority of those affected are "relatively middle-class people whose lives have been completely shattered."

"The people caught in the middle are civilians," he said. "The figures are what make this a potentially toxic crisis."

"What you've got is kids without education. You've got parents who've lost loved ones. Sons, husbands, who've been killed. Who've lost everything at home. Who've been totally traumatized," he added.

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In light of upcoming international peace talks between the opposing sides in Syria's civil war, former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the numbers of refugees resulting from the war has created a "regional crisis" that demands attention.
syria,war,refugees,crisis
343
2014-27-21
Tuesday, 21 January 2014 10:27 AM
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