11 October 2001
Text: WFP Announces Increased Food Deliveries to Afghanistan
(Convoys set to deliver almost 3300 metric tons of commodities) (820)
The World Food Program (WFP) says almost 3300 metric tons of food is
being delivered to Afghanistan -- arriving in truck convoys from
Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. WFP reports in an October
10 press release that the supplies are adequate to feed 700,000
citizens for one week.
The WFP is accelerating its deliveries into Afghanistan, where famine
remains a threat because winter snows could soon begin closing
mountain passes in the north and west, shutting down overland routes.
A Department of State spokesman says U.S. contributions to WFP fund 80
percent of the aid into Afghanistan. WFP is conducting a global appeal
for almost $260 million to stave off famine in Afghanistan brought on
by more than 20 years of war and several recent years of drought.
Following is the text of the WFP press release:
(begin text)
WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP)
News Release
10 Oct 2001
WFP steps up food deliveries into Afghanistan
ROME -- The United Nations World Food Program plans a major
acceleration of its overland deliveries into Afghanistan with food aid
convoys scheduled to cross the border into the war- and
drought-ravaged country from Pakistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and
Tajikistan.
The convoys will be carrying a collective total of 3,285 metric tones
of food aid -- enough to feed almost 700,000 hungry Afghans for one
week. The food will raise the total food stocks inside of Afghanistan
to over 12,000 tones, sufficient for the needs of over 3.4 million
people for one week. However, distribution networks have been
disrupted and must first be rebuilt.
Some 40 trucks loaded with 1,000 tones of food aid are on their way to
the Afghan capital of Kabul after departing Peshawar, north west
Pakistan, early today.
The trucks, WFP's biggest single convoy since the crises started, will
stop overnight at the Torkham border in the Khyber Pass and are
scheduled to reach Kabul on Thursday morning.
On Thursday, a second WFP convoy is expected to leave Quetta in the
northern Pakistan province of Balochistan for Herat with a food aid
cargo of 475 tones.
Another five trucks carrying 100 tones of wheat flour have reached the
western Afghan city of Herat, using a new humanitarian corridor out of
the Iranian city of Mashhad.
A further 110 tones left Mashhad today with three more convoys,
collectively carrying 600 tones of wheat flour, following the same
300-kilometre route to Iranian-Afghan border over the next few days.
A further 30 commercial trucks left Turkmenabad in Turkmenistan today
with 1,000 tones of food aid on board; these are expected to reach
Andkhoi in northern Afghanistan on October 14-15.
In the past few days other shipments of 1,233 tones have been
dispatched from the town of Ishkashim in Tajikistan to Faisabad in
north eastern Afghanistan.
"If WFP is to meet its target of delivering 52,000 tones of food aid
each month to millions of hungry people inside Afghanistan, it
urgently needs to fill-up its warehouses before the region's harsh
winter sets in," said Mohamed Zejjari, WFP Assistant Executive
Director and Director of Operations.
By mid-November, heavy snow often blocks mountain passes into northern
and central Afghanistan breaking vital overland routes.
Since the weekend, WFP convoys have continued to truck food aid into
Afghanistan with eight trucks reaching Kabul on Tuesday and a further
400 tones safely delivered to the Agency's warehouse in the northern
province of Faryab -- one of Afghanistan's worst drought-affected
provinces.
WFP distribution programs to beneficiaries inside the country are also
still on going and include 180 tones given to the hungry in Kabul on
October 8, and a further 180 tones of wheat in Herat on October 9.
The number of beneficiaries is expected to increase significantly with
the arrival of new deliveries but will also depend on whether the
distribution networks operated by non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) are fully operational, especially in the hungry rural areas.
Last week, the Agency launched an appeal for US$257 million to feed
7.5 million Afghans, including six million inside Afghanistan, to
prevent famine.
The emergency appeal also includes funds for a US$27 million logistics
operation, which will cover the cost of a fleet of 150 trucks to
augment the Agency's ability to deliver its food fast and efficiently
into Afghanistan.
WFP is the United Nations' front-line agency in the fight against
global hunger. In 2000, WFP fed more than 83 million people in 83
countries including most of the world's refugees and internally
displaced people.
WFP Global School Feeding Campaign -- As the largest provider of
nutritious meals to poor school children, WFP has launched a global
campaign aimed at ensuring the world's 300 million undernourished
children are educated.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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