UN food agency offers aid in northern Aleppo of Syria
Xinhua, February 10, 2016 Adjust font size:
The World Food Programme (WFP) has started distributing urgently needed food to people displaced by the recent surge in violence in northern Aleppo in Syria, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Tuesday
"The food was transported on cross-border convoys from Turkey into the small town of A'zaz, about 30 kilometres northwest of Aleppo city," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "Over the following days, distributions are to reach another 21,000 people."
"WFP is extremely concerned about the situation on the ground, with access and supply routes from the north to eastern Aleppo being cut off," he said. "The agency is urging all parties to the conflict to provide immediate access to the affected communities, so that it can distribute food to families."
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in northern Aleppo have been providing assistance and humanitarian relief to internally displaced people (IDPs). Turkey has also been providing assistance and has accepted a number of vulnerable, wounded persons into Turkey.
"The situation is quite volatile and fluid in northern Aleppo with families on the move seeking safety," said Jakob Kern, WFP's Country Director in Syria.
Thousands of displaced people have gathered in A'zaz in search of refuge close to the Bab Al Salam border crossing point, and thousands more are expected to arrive if the fighting continues. More than 30,000 people are reported to be on the move, many of them fleeing to the Turkish border, and the towns of A'zaz and Afrin.
Prior to the escalation in fighting in northern Aleppo, WFP was regularly delivering food across the Turkish border into Aleppo and Idleb governorates through the Bab al-Hawa and Bab al-Salam border crossings. Enditem