bahnt sich in Afghanistan an.1,5 Millionen Flüchtlinge sind unterwegs,4 Millionen waren schon zuvor in den Lagern an den Grenzen untergebracht und abhängig von Hilfslieferungen.Nach der Kriegsdrohung hatte die Uno ihre Lieferungen eingestellt.In 4 Wochen beginnt ein unvorstellbar grausamer Winter.Die Strassen sind miserabel,die UNHCR hat jetzt erst wieder mit 2 Convoys die Lieferungen aufgenommen mit 400 Tonnen Weizen.Teiweise muss mit Eseln über Bergpfade transportiert werden.300000 Leute im Norden sind in unmittelbarer Gefahr zu verhungern,an vielen Stellen gibt es kein Wasser.Es werden weitere Mittel benötigt....USA stellt 100 Millionen bereit....
Und in Pakistan sind an der Grenze bereits 75 Fälle von Ebola gemeldet worden,eine Krankheit,die hier erstmals bei russischen Soldaten auftauchte,aber jetzt durch virologische Untersuchung in Johannisburg bestätigt wurde.
www.news.telegraph.co.uk/news/...l=/news/2001/10/01/wafg01.xml
THE world's largest humanitarian aid effort began yesterday when two United Nations convoys carried food into Afghanistan through mountain passes on convoys of lorries and 4,000 donkeys.
§
The World Food Programme convoys set out from the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Quetta, and the first lorries were expected to reach Kabul, the Afghan capital, today.
Afghanistan's roads are pitifully inadequate and treacherous mountain passes isolate desperate communities. The WFP has enlisted trains of donkeys and mules to carry supplies into areas that no motor vehicle can reach.
Sacks of wheat will be laboriously transferred from lorries to the saddles of donkeys. This ancient mode of transport remains the only viable way of reaching the most remote reaches of the country.
Three more convoys will join those already inside Afghanistan in the next few days. Khalid Mansour, spokesman for the WFP, said lorries would be dispatched from Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, both neighbours of Afghanistan. He said: "What we are trying to do is approach the country from all directions so that we can reach the maximum number of people."
Four million people were dependent on WFP deliveries before the crisis. Of these, Mr Mansour said, only one million could still be reached. About 1.5 million people are expected to flee Afghanistan /news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/26/wref26.xml if the Americans launch an attack.
All food deliveries were suspended by the WFP immediately after the September 11 attacks, a decision privately criticised by numerous aid agencies. With the suspension lifted, the two convoys carrying 400 tons of wheat are the first supplies to reach Afghanistan since the onset of the crisis.
Almost three vital weeks have been lost. Winter snows render much of Afghanistan totally inaccessible by early November and aid workers believe that the WFP's initial halting of supplies was a grave error.
Aid workers estimate that 300,000 people in northern Afghanistan are in imminent danger of starvation. The food convoys are intended to avert this disaster and prevent an uncontrollable flow of refugees out of the country. Yet the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is still planning for a "worst case scenario" in which a million refugees would head for Pakistan following American raids.
President Pervaiz Musharraf's government has identified 105 sites in Pakistan to house the refugees and work has begun on constructing the first six camps. Yet two million Afghan refugees already live in Pakistan and a further influx is viewed as a major security problem.
All sites chosen for the new camps are in barren, isolated, drought-stricken areas near the border, where refugees can be closely guarded and swiftly returned to Afghanistan. Aid workers fear that the looming humanitarian disaster will be made even worse by the positioning of the camps. In some sites the water table lies 1,000ft beneath the surface, making it almost impossible to drill boreholes.
Moreover, none of the camps will be ready for another fortnight. If any large inflow of refugees occurs before then, no facilities will be available to house them. Even when all the plans are complete, the UNHCR workers admit they will face an impossible task.
Jacques Franquin, senior emergency co-ordinator, said: "Nobody can cope with an influx of one million refugees. Anyone who tells you the contrary is a liar." Although donors have pledged £8 million to the UNHCR, another £20 million is needed to cope with the first 100,000 refugees.
The largest relief effort in the world will do no more than contain the disaster. Yusuf Hassan, a UNHCR spokesman, said: "We are seeing the beginnings of a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is boosting humanitarian aid to Afghanistan significantly even as it warns of a military campaign in that country and potentially beyond.
President Bush was visiting the State Department on Thursday, where he was to announce that he plans to expand aid to Afghanistan by an amount one administration official said would approach $100 million.
Over the weekend, Bush dipped into an emergency fund and authorized an additional $25 million in relief aid to Afghan refugees. With the aid being announced Thursday, this year's total would be around $300 million.
Whether the money would be to help refugees or to provide food directly to people in Afghanistan was unclear, as was the manner of distributing the aid
ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGACDOO4ESC.html
Und in Pakistan sind an der Grenze bereits 75 Fälle von Ebola gemeldet worden,eine Krankheit,die hier erstmals bei russischen Soldaten auftauchte,aber jetzt durch virologische Untersuchung in Johannisburg bestätigt wurde.
www.news.telegraph.co.uk/news/...l=/news/2001/10/01/wafg01.xml
THE world's largest humanitarian aid effort began yesterday when two United Nations convoys carried food into Afghanistan through mountain passes on convoys of lorries and 4,000 donkeys.
§
The World Food Programme convoys set out from the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Quetta, and the first lorries were expected to reach Kabul, the Afghan capital, today.
Afghanistan's roads are pitifully inadequate and treacherous mountain passes isolate desperate communities. The WFP has enlisted trains of donkeys and mules to carry supplies into areas that no motor vehicle can reach.
Sacks of wheat will be laboriously transferred from lorries to the saddles of donkeys. This ancient mode of transport remains the only viable way of reaching the most remote reaches of the country.
Three more convoys will join those already inside Afghanistan in the next few days. Khalid Mansour, spokesman for the WFP, said lorries would be dispatched from Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, both neighbours of Afghanistan. He said: "What we are trying to do is approach the country from all directions so that we can reach the maximum number of people."
Four million people were dependent on WFP deliveries before the crisis. Of these, Mr Mansour said, only one million could still be reached. About 1.5 million people are expected to flee Afghanistan /news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/26/wref26.xml if the Americans launch an attack.
All food deliveries were suspended by the WFP immediately after the September 11 attacks, a decision privately criticised by numerous aid agencies. With the suspension lifted, the two convoys carrying 400 tons of wheat are the first supplies to reach Afghanistan since the onset of the crisis.
Almost three vital weeks have been lost. Winter snows render much of Afghanistan totally inaccessible by early November and aid workers believe that the WFP's initial halting of supplies was a grave error.
Aid workers estimate that 300,000 people in northern Afghanistan are in imminent danger of starvation. The food convoys are intended to avert this disaster and prevent an uncontrollable flow of refugees out of the country. Yet the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is still planning for a "worst case scenario" in which a million refugees would head for Pakistan following American raids.
President Pervaiz Musharraf's government has identified 105 sites in Pakistan to house the refugees and work has begun on constructing the first six camps. Yet two million Afghan refugees already live in Pakistan and a further influx is viewed as a major security problem.
All sites chosen for the new camps are in barren, isolated, drought-stricken areas near the border, where refugees can be closely guarded and swiftly returned to Afghanistan. Aid workers fear that the looming humanitarian disaster will be made even worse by the positioning of the camps. In some sites the water table lies 1,000ft beneath the surface, making it almost impossible to drill boreholes.
Moreover, none of the camps will be ready for another fortnight. If any large inflow of refugees occurs before then, no facilities will be available to house them. Even when all the plans are complete, the UNHCR workers admit they will face an impossible task.
Jacques Franquin, senior emergency co-ordinator, said: "Nobody can cope with an influx of one million refugees. Anyone who tells you the contrary is a liar." Although donors have pledged £8 million to the UNHCR, another £20 million is needed to cope with the first 100,000 refugees.
The largest relief effort in the world will do no more than contain the disaster. Yusuf Hassan, a UNHCR spokesman, said: "We are seeing the beginnings of a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is boosting humanitarian aid to Afghanistan significantly even as it warns of a military campaign in that country and potentially beyond.
President Bush was visiting the State Department on Thursday, where he was to announce that he plans to expand aid to Afghanistan by an amount one administration official said would approach $100 million.
Over the weekend, Bush dipped into an emergency fund and authorized an additional $25 million in relief aid to Afghan refugees. With the aid being announced Thursday, this year's total would be around $300 million.
Whether the money would be to help refugees or to provide food directly to people in Afghanistan was unclear, as was the manner of distributing the aid
ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGACDOO4ESC.html
