IRIN
AFGHANISTAN: Urgent assistance needed to combat drought
2 September 2004


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 2 September (IRIN) - The government of Afghanistan and the United 
Nations launched an emergency appeal on Wednesday to combat drought in the 
war-ravaged country. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in 
Afghanistan (UNAMA), US $71.3 million is needed immediately to combat the 
worst effects of the drought.

"The government, the United Nations and non-governmental organisations 
[NGOs] have launched a joint appeal to combat the worst drought that the 
country has faced, now in its sixth year." Manoel de Almeida e Silva, a 
spokesman for UNAMA, told IRIN in the capital, Kabul.

He said that even though emergency assistance was continuing to reach 
affected areas, it was estimated that more than six million people 
continue to be food insecure, a doubling in the past 12 months. The severe 
food and water shortages had forcibly displaced a great number of farmers 
and villagers, he added.

In the south and east of the country grain prices have almost doubled in 
the past year while in seven of the country's 34 provinces most of the 
population survive on less than the daily recommended 2,100 calories.

The UN said the joint appeal would help local populations combat the 
consequences of the drought by funding food for work, assistance, food 
distribution, emergency water supply, and seeds and fertilisers.

The government has formed a Drought Response Steering Committee, which has 
begun relief work by sending some assistance to the worst affected areas. 
This, however, would fall short of providing relief to all those affected, 
especially as winter approaches.

"The quick relief work will start immediately, and has indeed started 
already from the Provincial Emergency Fund," Ameerah Haq, Deputy Special 
Representative of the Secretary General (DSRSG), told IRIN. "In addition 
to that, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United 
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have already programmed US 
$4.6 million with respect to water. And the World Food Programme (WFP) is 
already assisting 900,000 families with the provision of food."

She said that of the US $71.3 million that made up the appeal, $51 million 
was for food aid and $20 million was for non-food items, which would 
address issues of water, seeds and fertilisers, and help for families who 
had been displaced.

The people of Afghanistan have been suffering from drought for six years, 
Some 37 percent of the population is suffering from poor nutrition as a 
result of the drought, double the figure believed to have been affected in 
2003. "The other reason to get the assistance out as quickly as possible 
is that we want to prevent any further displacement," Haq noted.

Some 3,000 to 4,000 people recently left the southern provinces of 
Kandahar and Helmand in desperate search of drinking water and food, the 
UN spokesman said.


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004


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