OIC: Syrians need $70 mln of humanitarian aid

At least one million Syrians affected by violence need urgent humanitarian aid worth $70 million, said the head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation on Saturday. A joint UN and OIC assessment mission that visited Syria has "found that there are... one million people affected by events and in need of an urgent humanitarian programme worth $70 million," Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told AFP. On March 29, deputy UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey said that "the joint analysis of the OIC and UN indicates that at least one million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance." Eight UN experts and three from the OIC went on government-led visits inside Syria last month. Ihsanoglu said that the pan-Muslim body and the UN are "now preparing a four-point programme that includes providing food, medical aid, rehabilitation to those affected by the events especially in rural areas such as farms, and providing assistance to refugees." The United Nations says that more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad's regime has launched a brutal crackdown on protesters calling for his ouster since mid-March, 2011.