DATE=12/10/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N / AFGHANISTAN (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257036
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations World Food Program says
millions of Afghans are likely to go hungry this
winter because of a bad harvest, soaring wheat prices,
and reduced supplies of food from neighboring
Pakistan. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the agency
says it is having difficulty delivering food to tens
of thousands of people in remote areas.
TEXT: The World Food Program says a convoy of food is
en route to an estimated 55-thousand Afghans in the
remote Panjshir valley in northern Afghanistan.
The people fled there in August to escape fighting
between Afghanistan's ruling Taleban and opposition
Northern Alliance. They are living in primitive
conditions and are totally dependent on international
aid.
W-F-P spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume says a major
breakthrough came on November 21st when the two
warring factions, for the first time, gave the U-N
permission to deliver humanitarian aid to the valley.
However, she says getting relief supplies to the
Panjshir valley is a difficult, dangerous task.
/// BERTHIAUME ACT - IN FRENCH - FADE UNDER ///
Ms. Berthiaume says it is difficult for trucks to
maneuver the steep, winding roads. And snow often
makes the roads impassible.
In addition, she says every time the drivers return to
the Afghan capital, Kabul, the warring sides put new
landmines on the roads, meaning the roads have to be
de-mined before each journey. Ms. Berthiaume says the
agency needs to deliver 750 tons of food each month
until May.
She says the Panjshir is the most difficult area to
reach, but there are other areas in Afghanistan
affected by the war and in need of food.
Despite the continuing turmoil in Afghanistan, the U-N
refugee agency reports more than 100-thousand Afghan
refugees have returned home this year from neighboring
countries. Nevertheless, spokesman Ron Redmond says,
with more than two-and-one-half-million refugees, the
Afghan refugee population remains the largest in the
world.
/// REDMOND ACT ///
There are presently some one-point-two million
Afghan refugees in Pakistan. And, in addition
to Pakistan, there are somewhere between 500-
thousand and two-million Afghans living in urban
areas around the main cities in Pakistan.
Nobody knows the exact number.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Redmond says nearly two-million Afghan refugees
are living in Iran. He says the U-N Refugee Agency
does not promote repatriation because of the unstable
situation in Afghanistan. But he says the agency
facilitates the return of Afghans who wish to go home.
(Signed)
NEB/LS/JWH/KL
10-Dec-1999 12:14 PM EDT (10-Dec-1999 1714 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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