United Nations: UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Saturday demanded that Syria unconditionally let in humanitarian aid and said the government was "afraid" to let in the UN emergency aid chief into the country. "The Syrian authorities must open without any preconditions to humanitarian communities," Ban said.
Speaking as reports emerged of Red Cross convoys being kept out of the protest city of Homs, Ban said the images coming out of Syria were "atrocious."
"It is totally unacceptable, intolerable. How as a human being can you bear with this situation," Ban told a press briefing at the UN headquarters. Syria has refused to let UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos into the country but Ban said the United Nations still hoped to persuade President Bashar al-Assad to let her in to make an aid assessment.
"Why are they afraid of receiving the head of UN humanitarian department? We are ready to mobilise on this, we do not have access. So that is priority number one at this time," he said. PTI