World Food Programme Provides Food To Syrians Fleeing Aleppo Fighting
DAMASCUS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has started distributing urgently needed food to people displaced by the recent surge in violence in northern Aleppo.
The food was transported on cross-border convoys from Turkey into the small town of A’zaz in northwest Syria, 30 kilometres northwest of Aleppo city and close to the Syrian-Turkish border. Over the next few days, distributions will reach 21,000 people with more food to meet the urgent needs of the new wave of displaced people.
The food includes rice, lentils, bulgur, pasta, white beans, chickpeas, vegetable oil, sugar and wheat flour in parcels that are enough to feed a family for one month. WFP is also sending ready-to-eat rations such as canned food for those who have no access to cooking facilities.
“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. “We are extremely concerned as access and supply routes from the north to eastern Aleppo city and surrounding areas are now cut off but we are making every effort to get enough food in place for all those in need, bringing it in through the remaining open border crossing point from Turkey.”
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 towards 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.
“WFP urges all parties to the conflict to facilitate unimpeded access to these communities in order to provide immediate relief to families who have already suffered for far too long,” Kern added.
# # #
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.
Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media and @wfp_mena
For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Abeer Etefa, WFP/Cairo, Tel. +2010 66634352
Dina El-Kassaby, WFP/Cairo, Tel. +2010 15218882
Jane Howard, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 65132321, Mob. +39 346 7600521
Bettina Luescher, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41 22 917 8564, Mob. + 41-79-842-8057
Gregory Barrow, WFP/London, Tel. +44 20 72409001, Mob. +44 7968 008474
Gerald Bourke, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-646-5566909, Mob. +1-646 525 9982
Steve Taravella, WFP/Washington DC, Tel. +1 202 653 1149, Mob. +1 202 770 5993