U.N. Afghan Aid Shipment Leaves Port -- WAR/TERRORISM NEWS ARCHIVE

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Subject: U.N. Afghan Aid Shipment Leaves Port

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Date Posted: 16:22:54 12/03/01 Mon

U.N. Afghan Aid Shipment Leaves Port
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011115/wl/attacks_afghan_aid_6.html

TERMEZ, Uzbekistan (AP) - The first substantial U.N. aid shipment across the Amu-Darya River left Uzbekistan on Thursday for a port in northern Afghanistan (news - web sites), authorities said.

The shipments mark the reopening of a vital aid corridor into northern Afghanistan, allowing passage of critical food and winter supplies to some of the country's most impoverished regions.

A barge loaded with 220 tons of wheat flour left the port of Termez on Thursday, delayed by security concerns over reports of shootings and looting in Afghanistan.

Earlier, a smaller test shipment of 55 tons of U.N. aid supplies arrived at the Afghan port of Hairaton on Wednesday.

The wheat flour, provided by the World Food Program, was headed for a camp of 2,000 families of internally displaced people on the road from the border to the main northern town of Mazar-e-Sharif, the first city to fall to the anti-Taliban forces.

Trucks were to arrive at Hairaton, 11 miles up the river, to bring the 220-ton shipment to the camp.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it was his understanding that a key land bridge between Uzbekistan and Mazar-e-Sharif also ``is open and that supplies are starting to come in that way.''

``This is exactly the right time of year to start getting some supplies in to help those that don't have the food or the clothing or the blankets to make it through the winter,'' he said Thursday at a national security conference in Washington.

The U.N. is also working to build up storage facilities in Mazar-e-Sharif to handle what could eventually be a massive influx of aid.

WFP spokesman Michael Huggins said the United Nations (news - web sites) hopes to start shipping supplies across the river at full capacity by the end of the week, making three barge trips a day.

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