16 October 2001
UN Security Council Demands Taliban Stop Blocking Aid Shipments
(Council gravely concerned about humanitarian situation) (520)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The Security Council October 16 issued a demand that
the Taliban stop obstructing aid destined for the Afghan people.
The Security Council met in private session with top UN officials to
discuss the humanitarian, political and military situation in
Afghanistan and begin preliminary discussions about a possible future
UN role in the country. Attending the meeting in addition to Secretary
General Kofi Annan were UN Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, UN Special
Representative to Afghanistan Francesc Vendrell, Under Secretary
General for political affairs Kieran Prendergast and Kevin Kennedy of
the Office of Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs.
At the end of the two-hour meeting, Council President Ambassador
Richard Ryan of Ireland said that "council members demanded that the
Taliban should stop threatening the safety and security of aid
workers, and to cease obstructing aid destined for the Afghan people."
"They also called on the Taliban to contribute to the alleviation of
hardship of the very large part of the Afghan population comprising
women, girls and children," Ryan said.
"Council members expressed grave concern about the humanitarian
situation," he said.
At a briefing earlier in the day, UN Spokesman Fred Eckhard said that
UN humanitarian agencies are urging donor governments to respond more
rapidly to the emergency humanitarian appeal for Afghanistan.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has received "only $12
million in cash of the estimated the $50 million needed to care for an
initial planning figure of 400,000 new arrivals in surrounding states.
Donor governments have formally pledged another $11 million, but these
pledges have not been translated into cash," Eckhard said.
The World Food Program (WFP) has received less than 6 percent of its
appeal for $257 million, despite generous pledges, and UNICEF, which
called for $36 million to carry out emergency work, has received only
half that amount with only a month until the onset of winter, the
spokesman said.
UNHCR and WFP account for the bulk of the $584 million emergency
appeal for Afghanistan launched by the secretary general in September.
Council President Ryan said that the council urges states to rapidly
disburse the contributions they made to UN emergency aid appeal and
stressed the need for all states to cooperate with UN agencies.
Ryan added that the UN hopes that with the cooperation of neighboring
states it will be able to open land corridors to get very large
amounts of humanitarian relief to Afghans displaced by the bombing now
under way in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the
United States.
The president said that during the meeting there was "a very initial
exchange of views about the political situation and prospects for the
political situation, including rehabilitation and building structures
in Afghanistan."
The council will be looking into the political situation in greater
detail next week, he said.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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