Syria allows agency to feed more people
2013-01-16 22:26
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Syria
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Geneva - The Syrian government will give the World Food
Programme (WFP) greater access to the 2.5 million Syrians suffering from
hunger, the head of the UN agency said on Wednesday.
Ertharin Cousin said that President Bashar Assad's regime
gave WFP a list of 110 non-government organizations it could use to distribute
food, and 44 of those mostly small-scale groups of local community volunteers
were found to be suitable partners for the agency.
The agency says so far it's only been able to provide
food to 1.5 million of the 2.5 million Syrians that the Syrian Arab Red
Crescent says have been forced out of their homes because of the country's
civil war.
The other 1 million people have been beyond the agency's
reach, its officials say, because of factors such as the Red Crescent, its main
partner agency, is stretched thin and many of the places are too dangerous
because of fighting.
Cousin told reporters in Geneva that the Syrian government's
latest move gives the UN access to these remaining 1 million hungry people, but
there have been increasing numbers of attacks on WFP trucks in the past two
months from government opponents.
"We are always limited by the violence, regardless
of how many new partners we bring in," she said, adding that the opponents
sometimes return the food to the agency after discussions are held.
- AP
