UN

The UN said today it was disappointed that aid convoy didn't reach besieged areas.

"April was supposed to be our best month," but "it's not looking so," Jan Egeland, Special Advisor to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, told a press conference on humanitarian aid delivery.

"So far I am disappointed and disheartened at what we achieved over the last week," he said, noting that five convoys were not able to go for the last four days, and as a result, 287,000 people didn't get the relief in hard-to-reach areas or in besieged areas.

He said that despite a new procedure that a permission will be issued within seven days and the final clearance will be given within another three days, four of the five were not given facilitation letters by the Government, and the other was blocked by some of the armed opposition groups.

With a major vaccination campaign entering into its intensive phase, he noted that there are problems in many places, urging the Government and the armed opposition groups not to stop volunteers and health workers who are to vaccinate millions of children for epidemic diseases.

"One positive thing" is that in the very near future, up to 500 wounded, sick and their relatives will be evacuated from the four towns, Madaya, Zabadani, Foah and Kefraya, he said. "It's one of the biggest medical evacuations that have been planned."

Source:WAM