UN aid convoys waiting for end to Syrian hostilities

By Bayram Altug

GENEVA

Humanitarian aid is ready to leave Turkey for Syria but not until the cease-fire is confirmed, a UN official said Tuesday.

A cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia was announced at 7 p.m. local time (1600GMT) Monday to allow supplies to be delivered to besieged areas around the war-torn country. However, there have already been reports of sporadic fighting continuing.

"We have been mobilising, stockpiling, readying ourselves for this great opportunity to deliver this very urgent aid but we need that peace to be reinstated," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told reporters in Geneva.

"We are waiting for this cessation of hostilities to actually deliver the assurances and the peace before trucks can start moving from Turkey. We need to enter an environment where we are not in mortal danger."

According to the UN's Syria envoy, around 400,000 people have died in Syria since the war broke out more than five years ago. The UN estimates that more than 11 million have been displaced by the conflict.