U.N. warns of famine threat in northern Afghanistan -- WAR/TERRORISM NEWS ARCHIVE

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3], 4 ]

Subject: U.N. warns of famine threat in northern Afghanistan

Author:
No name

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 13:46:24 12/03/01 Mon

U.N. warns of famine threat in northern Afghanistan
http://webcenter.newssearch.netscape.com/aolns_display.adp?key=200111020050000190090_aolns.src

NEW YORK, Nov. 2 (Kyodo) - U.N. food aid to northern Afghanistan has run out and the situation in the area may become critical in a few weeks, Kenzo Oshima, U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said Thursday.

Oshima said at a news conference that he was concerned that Afghan refugees may not be able to survive the winter. He has just returned to New York after visiting three countries neighboring Afghanistan.

The Japanese U.N. official cited Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan as one area where food aid has run out.

The U.N. is also unable to send assistance to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, the stronghold of the ruling Taliban, following the chaos caused by U.S. bombing there, he said.

Currently, the U.N. is bringing 1,540 tons of food a day into Afghanistan, but is able to help only one-third of the needy people because of the continuing air strikes by the U.S. forces and worsening public safety in the country, Oshima said.

Neighboring countries have closed their borders with Afghanistan and will not allow Afghan refugees in. They have only agreed to let the U.N. use port facilities to provide humanitarian assistance to Afghan refugees, he said.

The number of displaced people in Afghanistan is snowballing from the 1 million confirmed -- mostly in the northern and western parts of the country -- before the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon. In addition, there are millions of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, Iran and other countries.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]