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UNITED NATIONS: UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Friday demanded that Syria unconditionally let in humanitarian aid saying the images coming out of the conflict-stricken country were "atrocious."
"The Syrian authorities must open without any preconditions to humanitarian communities," Ban told a press conference at the UN headquarters in which he said the Syrian government appeared "afraid" to let in the UN's humanitarian chief.
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 mobilize on this but we do not have access so that is priority number one at this time," he said.
"We are pushing hard to have Valerie Amos visit Syria as soon as possible and Syrian statements had indicated a visit could still be arranged," Ban said.
He said it was "more urgent" to make a humanitarian breakthrough and that Amos should get into Damascus before Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League special envoy on Syria.
Ban said Annan will have a broad "flexibility" in dealing with Assad in a bid to obtain a halt to the violence which has dragged on for almost a year now as rebels seek to oust the Syrian president.
The Arab League's plan for Syria calls on Assad to hand over powers to a deputy to organize new elections.
But the UN leader indicated that Annan would not just press the Arab League plan.
"To have political dialogue with Syrian authorities, he should be given broader flexibility, a broader framework. This is what we have agreed, rather than sticking to any specific point" in the Arab League plan, Ban said.
Annan has already met the Syrian and Iranian ambassadors to the United Nations, other Arab envoys and the representatives of the five permanent UN Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
He will travel to Cairo on Wednesday for talks with the head of the Arab League, Nabil el-Arabi.
"From there he will try to visit Damascus as soon as possible," Ban said.
- AFP/fa
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