Syria asks for more time on aid access: UN envoy

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (R) meets with UN envoy Amos in Ankara. AA photo

The Syrian government has agreed to a “limited assessment” exercise as part of a joint preliminary humanitarian access mission, which will be conducted by U.N. agencies and Syrian authorities, the U.N.’s Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos told reporters yesterday.

Amos paid a two-day visit to Homs and arrived in Turkey on March 9, visiting Syrian refugees in camps near the border in Hatay. After meeting with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu yesterday, Amos said she had negotiated with the Syrian government for unhindered humanitarian access to the worst-hit areas of the country, but the Syrian government had asked for “more time to look at the agreement.”

“It’s very important that we get unhindered humanitarian access. However, the government has agreed to a limited assessment exercise to be conducted by U.N. agencies and Syrian authorities, which would give us some information about what is happening in the country,” Amos said at a press conference March 9.

In her two-day visit to Syria, Amos said she had gone to Homs and parts of the suburb of Baba Amr with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. “I was devastated by what I saw. That part of Homs is totally destroyed. There are no people left,” she said, adding, “It is very important to know what has happened to those people.”