Military

DATE=10/09/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-281566

TITLE=U-N / AFGHANISTAN (L-O)

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The U-N Children's Fund is sending a convoy of relief supplies from Iran to Herat, Afghanistan. UNICEF says it has stopped sending supplies from Pakistan into Afghanistan until the security situation improves. Lisa Schlein has more from Geneva, UNICEF headquarters.

TEXT: Until now, many of the U-S military strikes have been at targets near the Pakistan border, making the area out of bounds for U-N aid agencies. But Herat, in western Afghanistan, is close to the Iranian border and in an area where no strikes have taken place, so UNICEF is sending some desperately needed supplies into the city.

UNICEF spokeswoman Wivina Belmonte says seven-trucks will make the two-hour journey from the Iranian border to Herat. She says they are loaded with 30-tons of emergency supplies, including health kits, water purification tablets and blankets.

/// BELMONTE ACT ///

UNICEF will use every route, every avenue open to us to get supplies inside Afghanistan to those who need them. As you know, every day counts. The need is there and as it gets closer to winter, the needs become more and more urgent. We know the catastrophic effects of winter on children and we have to be prepared inside Afghanistan.

/// END ACT ///

/// OPT /// Ms. Belmonte says three UNICEF trucks filled with emergency supplies also are traveling from Turkmenistan to Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan. /// END OPT ///

On Monday, another U-N agency, the World Food Program, temporarily suspended its cross-border aid convoys into Afghanistan. The agency says the suspension is likely to last as long as military strikes continue. But it says food that reached Afghanistan before the strikes began is being distributed.

The food agency says it has 18-thousand-tons of food stockpiled within the country, which it says is enough to meet the needs of three-million people for one month.

But the W-F-P estimates six-million people in Afghanistan are in need of food. (SIGNED)

NEB/LS/KL/RAE