WFP director Ertharin Cousin spoke to VOA in Lebanon after attending meetings in Damascus with Syrian government officials. Ms. Cousin is the highest-level UN official to visit the Syrian capital for several months. She says the biggest need right now is finding money to feed millions of Syrians.
“We have enough right now to support our activities until the end of August, the first of September. And as it comes in it goes out. And we will continue to keep our pipelines robust for as long as the donors continued to invest in our work.”
She predicts that four million people inside Syria and three million people outside the country will need emergency food by the end of the year. That probably will cost the WFP 168 million dollars a month.
But money is not her only concern. She recently went to Damascus to ask Syrian officials for their help so that her agency and other groups can operate more freely in the country. The WFP has more than 20 non-governmental partners that help provide food to those in need.
In recent weeks, government security positions and the jihadist group al-Nusra Front have interfered with food distribution efforts. Ms. Cousin said her message to the government was a very direct one.
“We must have access, and we need the government to ensure that they do nothing to impede our access nor should anyone in the opposition do anything to impede our access.”
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25