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In rare joint appeal UN agencies say world must act now to save Syria

Published April 16th, 2013 - 09:17 GMT
More than a million people have been left homeless by the conflict
More than a million people have been left homeless by the conflict

The heads of five major UN agencies on Monday issued a rare joint appeal to the intentional community to act immediately to save Syria from "disaster".

In a statement, the chiefs of WHO, Unicef, Ocha, WFP and UNHCR urged political leaders to meet their responsibility to the people of Syria and to the future of the region

The agencies criticised what they described as "an insufficient sense of urgency among the governments and parties that could put a stop to the cruelty and carnage in Syria."

They appealed for "something more important than funds," urging leaders to use their influence to "save the region from disaster". 

The group said that as humanitarian organisations, they have been doing all they can to help those affected by the fighting but because of insecurity and funding difficulties, they are "precariously close, perhaps within weeks, to suspending some humanitarian support".

The UN says at least 70,000 people have been killed and 1.2 million left homeless since the conflict began.

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