- Title: U.N. will leave "no stone unturned" in providing aid to eastern Aleppo
- Date: 5th December 2016
- Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (DECEMBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS BUILDING U.N. HUMANITARIAN CHIEF, STEPHEN O'BRIEN, DURING NEWS BRIEFING JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMANITARIAN CHIEF, STEPHEN O'BRIEN, SAYING: "Certainly over 200,000 people remain besieged and we need to reach them. We know that the last formal food distribution was on the 15th of November (sic- correct date is 13th of November) and that people have been eking out what they can, prices have skyrocketed, so there is a real and severe shortage of food stuffs." JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMANITARIAN CHIEF, STEPHEN O'BRIEN, SAYING: "No stone is being left unturned, seeking to make sure we get the chance to supply the life-saving needs of the people in eastern Aleppo as we speak." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HUMANITARIAN CHIEF, STEPHEN O'BRIEN, SAYING: "We continue therefore to have an ongoing dialogue of putting forth plans, and all the rest of it for making sure we have safe, unimpeded access with loaded trucks to be able to get in. Wheeled convoys are always by far the most important way of getting the necessary volumes and immediacy of food and medicines and treatments in. And that is what we are seeking to achieve." CAMERAMEN
- Embargoed: 20th December 2016 11:45
- Keywords: United Nations Aleppo Syria aid humanitarian Stephen O'Brien
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Reuters ID: LVA0015BLY62V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Food supplies are running critically low for more than 200,000 besieged people in eastern Aleppo, the United Nations chief of humanitarian affairs said on Monday (December 5).
"People have been eking out what they can, prices have skyrocketed, so there is a real and severe shortage of food stuffs," U.N. under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, Stephen O'Brien told reporters in Geneva.
Syrian government forces and their allies advanced into another rebel-held part of eastern Aleppo, a rebel official and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday, as the army drew closer to opposition-held parts of the Old City.
As the push towards rebel-held areas intensified, rebel groups have reiterated calls for humanitarian corridors to be opened for the delivery of food and medicine and the evacuation of the wounded.
"No stone is being left unturned, seeking to make sure we get the chance to supply the life-saving needs of the people in eastern Aleppo as we speak," O'Brien said.
O'Brien said the U.N. remained in contact with the Syrian government to negotiate humanitarian access.
"We continue therefore to have an ongoing dialogue of putting forth plans, and all the rest of it for making sure we have safe, unimpeded access with loaded trucks to be able to get in. Wheeled convoys are always by far the most important way of getting the necessary volumes and immediacy of food and medicines and treatments in. And that is what we are seeking to achieve," O'Brien said.
Having captured swathes of eastern Aleppo from rebels in the last two weeks, the army and its allies are seeking to drive a wedge between the al-Shaar neighbourhood and the remaining part of rebel-held eastern Aleppo to the southwest. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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