Syrian refusing visas to Western aid workers

Syria is refusing to grant visas to Western aid workers but the United Nations is trying to overcome its objections so as to expand its humanitarian operation.

The world body currently deploys 60 expatriates in Syria, where some 1.5 million people are deemed in need of assistance amid escalating violence.

“We have a number of visas pending for international staff from a number of Western countries – the United States, Canada, the UK, France and one or two more – that are refused their visas because of their nationalities,” UN official John Ging told reporters after chairing the Fourth Syrian Humanitarian Forum yesterday.

UN officials were taking up the visa issue “on a daily basis” with Syrian authorities, who otherwise have been upholding an agreement reached in early June for expanding the UN aid operation, he said.

Mr Ging also said Syria’s wheat harvest would fall by more than 700,000 tonnes this year, citing the result of a survey carried out by two UN agencies, the World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organisation, due to be issued next week.

The WFP – whose food rations are distributed by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent – aims to feed 850,000 people in Syria in July, up from 500,000 in June, he said.

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY