No displaced Syrians in Jordan - gov't

By Taylor Luck

AMMAN - The government on Monday denied the presence of displaced Daraa residents in Jordan as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was unable to confirm the death of a Jordanian citizen in the besieged Syrian city.

Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications and Government Spokesperson Taher Odwan denied media and eyewitness reports that Syrians are currently being hosted by families in northern Jordan.

“To our knowledge, a handful of Syrians arrived in Jordan on Thursday, took supplies and returned to Daraa on Friday,” Odwan told The Jordan Times over the phone yesterday.

“There are no displaced Syrians in Jordan.”

Authorities are not preparing any centers to receive potential families fleeing violence in Daraa, Odwan said, stressing that security services have stepped up monitoring at the Kingdom’s borders.

According to eyewitnesses, schools in the villages of Thneiba and Shajara were equipped with mattresses, milk and water on Thursday due to an influx of up to 20 Syrian families who crossed into Jordan on foot.

Meanwhile, the government enforced yesterday a one-kilometer exclusion zone around the Ramtha border crossing, restricting the area to designated passenger movement.

The move was aimed at the growing number of international media outlets gathering at the border gates, which Odwan claimed was disrupting the flow of Jordanian military vehicles and border police.

Also on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it was following up on the fate of Abdul Latif Washahi, a Jordanian citizen residing in Daraa who allegedly was killed during protests last month.

Washahi’s family learned of his death after viewing photographs of his body on a Syrian opposition group website, which claimed that the 36-year-old died at the hands of the Syrian police during clashes in the city on April 25.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammed Al Kayed said the government has contacted Syrian authorities and the embassy in Damascus regarding Washahi’s fate.

If confirmed, the death would mark the first Jordanian fatality in the ongoing violent crackdown in the Syrian city, located five kilometers from the border city of Ramtha.

According to Odwan, the potential death of a Jordanian citizen will not affect the relations between the two countries, stressing that the Kingdom has no stance on its northern neighbor's “internal matters”.

“We support a secure and stable Syria and wish them success in their reform process,” Odwan said.

3 May 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=37086.