UN SEEKS 604 MLN FOR AFG AID 24/3/09

Source: Canwest News

Martedi' 24 Marzo 2009

UN seeks US$ 604 million for Afghanistan aid

March 24 - Painting a dismal picture of conditions in Afghanistan, the United Nations emergency relief chief Tuesday launched a special humanitarian aid program, saying the world body needs US$ 604 million to fund it.


"The situation in Afghanistan is serious and it's getting worse, particularly because of the escalating conflict, and also because of the serious drought which has been raging there for two years in some parts of the country," John Holmes, head of the UN Humanitarian Co-ordination Office, told reporters in Geneva.

Canada is expected to chip in cash from up to $111 million slated last summer for humanitarian assistance through to 2011 — part of its $1.9-billion aid commitment over 10 years.

Packaged as the Afghanistan Humanitarian Action Plan 2009, the funding is vital just to hold the line on gains made since the U.S.-led forces began driving the Taliban from power in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks," Holmes said.

"Over the past eight years, Afghanistan has made significant progress in many areas, including health and education," he told a meeting of donor nations, among them Canada.

"However, due to the escalating armed conflict and severe drought, many of these gains are now at risk of being reversed."

Adding to the problem is the continuing inflow of returning refugees: some 278,000 arrived last year, bringing the total who have returned since 2001 to five million.

"This group is particularly vulnerable . . . in a context of a rapidly growing population and severe limits on cultivable, habitable land," Holmes said.

The action plan includes project plans from 39 charities and non-government aid organizations — marking the first time since the fall of the Taliban that the UN has joined forces with such groups to fund overall emergency aid in the country.

More than half of the money requested would be spent on feeding some 8.7 million Afghans affected by high food prices and the drought.

Despite falling food prices globally, the effect in land-locked Afghanistan has been less pronounced because of food-export curbs in surrounding countries, Holmes explained.

Another $100 million of the action plan would go for landmine clearance.

Holmes warned the deteriorating security situation poses an increasing threat to aid workers as they carry out their "lifesaving work."

The UN recorded more than 120 direct attacks on aid groups between January and August last year and, by the end of October, 36 aid workers had been killed and 92 kidnapped.

UN figures show that 2,100 Afghan civilians were killed in 2008 as a result of armed conflict.

"During my mission to Afghanistan in June last year, I was told over and over again by local populations how they feel trapped by the warring parties, with no way out," said Holmes.

"Clearly the civilian population must be respected and protected, including from the ongoing hostilities and from forced displacement."

There are about 2,700 Canadian soldiers deployed in Afghanistan, most in Kandahar Province in the south.