Millions of Syrian families ‘at risk of hunger’

Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), says millions of Syrian families will go hungry if the agency does not immediately get $64 million to support Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries in December.

Speaking in Damascus on Tuesday, Cousin said that if the funds are not made available, many Syrian families would still go hungry despite sending food aid to more than 1.7 million refugees.

“The situation is getting bad; refugees are already struggling to survive the harsh winter; the consequences of halting this assistance will be devastating,” she said.

“WFP has been giving destitute refugees vouchers to buy food in local shops in countries neighbouring Syria. The agency is assisting people inside Syria, too, but has enough resources to feed aid recipients there until January.”

Abeer Etefa, WFP Spokeswoman, said the funding issue was coming at a very bad time, because the agency had finally gained access to areas where it had been cut off for months.

“We are now facing a situation where we can’t feed the people we have gained access to recently,” she said.

Etefa said that more than 3 million Syrians have fled into neighbouring countries, while 6.45 million people are displaced inside Syria.

Meanwhile, the US, which has given more than $3 billion for humanitarian needs in and around Syria, $935 million of which went to WFP, has called on governments in the region “to do more” in response to UN appeals for Syrian humanitarian needs.

Jen Psaki, State Department Spokeswoman, said in Washington, that the countries in the region could do more.

She noted that humanitarian assistance was one of five stakes in the international coalition against the Islamic State militant group, which has seized territories in both Syria and Iraq.