Military

DATE=09/25/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-280987

TITLE=AFGHAN RELIEF EFFORTS (L ONLY)

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The United Nations says it is completing plans to provide emergency assistance to millions of Afghans. But as Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva, U-N officials are concerned that aid agencies might not be able to get relief supplies into Afghanistan.

TEXT: U-N aid agencies fear a humanitarian crisis of stunning proportions is unfolding in Afghanistan. They say 20 years of brutal conflict, three years of severe drought and large-scale human rights abuses have left more than five-million civilians in need of help.

Given the current situation, the aid agencies predict the number of people needing assistance inside Afghanistan will rise to seven-and-a-half million.

The head of humanitarian operations for the United Nations is Ross Mountain. He says that as the situation worsens in Afghanistan, as many as one-and-one-half million people may try to flee to neighboring countries.

/// MOUNTAIN ACT ///

Those that may be able to come out will probably be the lucky ones. Our concern right now is how are we going to reach those who are locked inside Afghanistan. Those who are able to escape as refugees will be able to receive support from the international community. Those that are not able to escape, those that are still inside Afghanistan, who have depended and the additional ones that may need to depend, on international humanitarian support are those that we are very much worried about now.

/// END ACT ///

Following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, all United Nations foreign workers pulled out of Afghanistan, fearing U-S military reprisals. About seven-hundred local Afghan employees of the agencies are now operating humanitarian programs inside the country. But Mr. Mountain says it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to distribute aid.

/// 2ND MOUNTAIN ACT ///

Our very, very real concern (is) for how assistance may be brought to those who will remain inside Afghanistan. We are indeed trying to see what kind of avenues that we may be able to explore, be it by air, be it cross-border, be it otherwise to be able to provide support inside the country.

/// END ACT ///

The World Food Program says only two to three weeks worth of food remains inside the country. The agency says it is planning to begin a cross-border operation to transport food from Turkmenistan and Tajikistan into Northern Afghanistan. /// OPT TO END /// The International Organization for Migration says it is trying to round up a fleet of trucks to deliver the aid. (Signed)

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