U N I T E D  N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)
AFGHANISTAN: WFP begins airlift to northeast
23 November 2001


ISLAMABAD, 23 November (IRIN) - The World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday
began airlifting food into Afghanistan in an effort to bring sufficient
quantities of urgently needed food aid to more than 274,000 hungry people
living in remote locations across the northeast. This was the first time a
humanitarian airlift had been launched from neighbouring Tajikistan and
the first time the food agency had used aircraft in getting food into the
country.

"This means we will be able to build up our food stock in Faizabad
[Feyzabad] and, as a result, keep the trucks moving into the rural areas,"
a WFP spokeswoman, Lindsey Davies, told IRIN. "It can take several days
for food to come from Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, so these airlifts mean
we can position the food where it matters more quickly," she said.

The aircraft, carrying 17 mt of wheat flour, left Kulob airport in
southern Tajikistan for a 30-minute flight to Faizabad, the provincial
capital of Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan, before returning to
Kulob to reload. Initial plans envision four flights per day, weather
permitting, for the next few weeks until a total of 2,000 mt has been
dispatched. The food will then be put on trucks and taken to remote areas
across the northeast.

"Winter is upon us already in these areas and although the roads are open
now, the severity and harshness of the winter weather may hamper efforts
as early as December," she said. Davies explained that in order to keep
the roads open, WFP was working with a fleet of heavy duty trucks, some of
which had been fitted with snowploughs, to keep the roads clear.

According to a WFP statement on Friday, the six worst-affected areas to be
reached before winter snows sever road links are: Ragh with an estimated
needed population of 71,000 ; Darwar 70,000; Shignan (Sheghnan) 25,000;
Khwahan (Khvahan) 12,000; Sharibuzurg (Shahr-e Bozorg) 39,000; and Yaftal
57,000.

Additionally, WFP was trying to reach an another 239,000 in the districts
of Kalafgan, Teshkan, Drayem, Rustaq and Khos Freng. The situation in
these districts was not as critical as they remain accessible throughout
winter, it added.

Some 9,000 mt of wheat flour needs to be moved into Faizabad from
neighbouring Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to ensure enough food reaches
people before winter isolates communities. This represents a four-month
ration for the population which will be cut off by snow.

Since mid-October, WFP has succeeded in bringing in over 52,000 mt of
food, far exceeding its target and enough to feed six million hungry
Afghans for one month.

Meanwhile, a 30-truck convoy carrying winter clothing and blankets from
the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) at the Turkmenistan
border with northern Afghanistan is set to cross into the town of Andkhoi
(Andkhvoy) in Faryab Province on Saturday.

According to a press statement on Friday, the convoy carrying blankets,
boots, winter clothing and other relief goods will cover the winter
clothing needs of all the displaced people in Andkhoi, Qaramkul (Qaram
Qowl), Khan-Car-Bag (Khan-e Chahar Bagh) and Gurkhan districts identified
by surveys conducted by IOM and its partners. In addition, an IOM airlift
of 7,000 winterised tents from Peshawar, Pakistan to Turkmenistan, and
onward to northern Afghanistan, was scheduled to begin next week, the
statement added.


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001


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