UN food agency’s head to visit camp

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Executive director of the UN World Food Programme Ertharin Cousin (C) shakes hands while speaking to Syrian refugees in Jordan. REUTERS photo

The executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, will today visit a camp in Kilis that is hosting Syrian refugees who fled escalating violence in their country.

While in Kilis, Cousin will hold a news conference focusing on the developing humanitarian situation in Syria and WFP programs to support refugees in neighboring countries.

Cousin’s visit to Kilis follows her meetings with senior government officials in Ankara and Istanbul Jan. 13 to 14. She was in Ankara yesterday holding a meeting with Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan. Inside Syria, the WFP has scaled up its operations and is reaching 1.5 million people monthly with food assistance.

New wave of arrivals

The WFP’s Regional Emergency Operation to cover the food needs of refugees in neighboring countries was launched in July and is now expanding to include the new wave of arrivals of refugees fleeing to Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

In Turkey, the WFP has partnered with the Turkish Red Crescent Society (Kızılay) to provide assistance to Syrian refugees through an electronic food voucher program in the refugee camps.