Military

DATE=12/28/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=W-F-P / AFGHANISTAN (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-284700

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The United Nations World Food Program, W-F-P, says it was able to bring almost 90-thousand tons of food into Afghanistan in December, far in excess of its monthly goal of 52-thousand tons. Lisa Schlein has more on the story from Geneva.

TEXT: World Food Program officials say part of the reason they have been able to distribute more food is that, with the Taleban gone, they have been able to recruit women once again.

The deputy director of W-F-P's Geneva office, Jean-Luc Siblot, says bakeries run by women re-opened in the capital, Kabul, two weeks ago. In another city, Herat, Mr. Siblot says, the W-F-P is hiring Afghan women to locate the people most in need in the city, and next week the agency plans to distribute food to about 200-thousand people living there.

The W-F-P official says the agency also has been able to get food into rural areas.

/// SIBLOT ACT///

We are extremely happy the way that the operation has been conducted so far in terms of access. We find that food aid distribution contributes to the stabilization of drought-affected rural populations. Normally, the movement of some villagers down into the city centers during the heart of the winter has not so far been seen this year in places like Faizabad or Keshem or Rustaq districts.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Siblot says the W-F-P is feeding nearly four-and-one-half-million people in Afghanistan.

While things are going well, Mr. Siblot says they are far from perfect. For example, he says food convoys crossing from Pakistan to Afghanistan have been held up by Afhan border guards trying to extract tolls of up to 150 dollars per truck. He says though the W-F-P never pays these fees, the trucks are eventually able to get through, usually after an appeal is made to higher authorities at the border. In addition, he says land mines also pose problems.

/// 2ND SIBLOT ACT ///

There has been a certain number of incidents reported, mine incidents which have been reported over the last few weeks and last months. However, so far, the question of looting and banditry and this kind of problem, has not really hampered the level, the scale of our operation.

/// END ACT ///

Though the W-F-P is able to get to most places in Afghanistan, the southern city of Kandahar remains a "no go" area because of tensions among rival militia. Mr. Siblot says a U-N team is going to Kandahar to assess the security situation there. If the team decides Kandahar is safe, he says international staff will return within days. (Signed)

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