WFP chief says militants in northwest Syria blocking access to area

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David Beasley, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP), on Saturday called on armed militants in northwestern Syria to stop blocking access to the area as the organization seeks to help hundreds of thousands of people affected by earthquakes, Reuters reported.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Beasley said the Turkish and Syrian governments had been cooperating very well, pointing out that the WFP's operations were being obstructed in northwestern Syria.

"The problems we are running into is the cross-line operations into northwest Syria where the northwestern Syrian authorities are not giving us the access we need," he told Reuters, adding, "that is bottlenecking our operations. That has to get fixed straight away."

"I don't know why they [militants in northwestern Syria] are blocking. Why play games at a time like this. I will call them out and will not be silent about this," Beasley affirmed.

Last week, the WFP warned that it was running out of stock in northwest Syria and called for more border crossings to be opened.

More than 45,000 people have been killed in several earthquakes that struck Syria and Turkey, and the death toll is expected to soar.

According to Beasley, the destruction of critical infrastructure and buildings would mean that survivors would need aid for months, warning that the WFP will run out of funds in around 60 days.

"Time is running out and we are running out of money. Our operation is about $50 million a month for our earthquake response alone so unless Europe wants a new wave of refugees, we need get the support we need," the WFP chief underlined.

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