UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Stephane O'Brien, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, on Monday said that he is pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo, where up to 275,000 people remain trapped without food, water, proper shelter or medical care, a UN spokesman told reporters here.
Monday's 20-truck convoy would have been the first of two that would have carried flour and other food supplies, enough to feed some 185,000 people for one month, UN spokesman Stephane Djuarric said. "But humanitarians have not been able to reach eastern Aleppo since clashes started on 7 July between the government of Syria forces and non-state armed groups."
O'Brien, who is also the UN emergency relief coordinator, said he hopes that all parties to the conflict, and those with influence over them, would see the convoy as an opportunity to move forward.
All parties must facilitate regular and sustained access to families in all the besieged and hard-to-reach areas across the country, through both cross-line and cross-border routes, he said.
"The United Nations continues to call for unconditional, unimpeded and sustained access to the millions of Syrian men, women and children in hard-to-reach and besieged locations," he said. "The delivery of humanitarian assistance is urgently needed, as is access for medical teams to examine, treat patients and support the evacuation of critically ill, the elderly, people with disabilities and children."
On Monday, an inter-agency convoy is delivering much needed life-saving assistance for 78,000 people in the hard-to-reach town of Big Orem, in Aleppo Governorate.
"The convoy includes flour, basic household supplies, health, nutrition, education and water and sanitation assistance," the spokesman said, adding that an inter-agency convoy is also currently underway to Talbiseh in Homs Governorate.
The convoy aims to deliver food, water and sanitation items, nutrition, education and health supplies for 84,000 people, said Dujarric.
Some health surgical supplies, burn kits and midwifery kits and medicines were removed during the loading process, he added.