PEOPLE OF AFGHANISTAN FACE EIGHTEENTH WINTER AT WAR; HALF-MILLION IN CAPITAL DEPENDANT ON AID FOR SURVIVAL
Press Release
IHA/612
PEOPLE OF AFGHANISTAN FACE EIGHTEENTH WINTER AT WAR; HALF-MILLION IN CAPITAL DEPENDANT ON AID FOR SURVIVAL
19961203 United Nations Appeals Urgently for $133 Million to Maintain Humanitarian Assistance, Relief and Reconstruction ProgrammesNEW YORK, 3 December (Department of Humanitarian Affairs) -- The United Nations today appealed for $133 million to ensure the continuation of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, a war-afflicted country that has the highest rates of infant, childhood and maternal mortality in Asia.
The people of Afghanistan are about to face their eighteenth winter at war. Some 500,000 people in the capital of Kabul alone will depend on food relief to survive it. In addition, the recent intensification of the civil conflict has only exacerbated the difficult living conditions of an already poor population. It is estimated that there are close to 10 million land- mines in the country, causing death and disability at an alarming rate. Such accidents are expected to increase in the coming months, as people search for scarce firewood in mined areas.
The appeal, which has been prepared in consultation with United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations and the donor community, will provide urgent humanitarian assistance, while also addressing the needs for rehabilitation and reconstruction throughout the country. Programmes include support for the return of refugees, food aid, essential health services, mine clearance, and the rehabilitation of basic infrastructure in both urban and rural areas.
The launching of the appeal was marked today in a United Nations-funded playground in Kabul. Recently cleared of mines, the playground will offer a safe haven to a generation of children who have known little but deprivation and the taste of fear. Other ceremonies were held today in the towns of Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat, as well as in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad. As fighting rages in Afghanistan, the humanitarian community continues to negotiate a framework in which projects that employ and benefit women can continue.
The international community is called upon to respond generously to this appeal, to relieve the protracted suffering of the Afghan people and to provide a basis for longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country.
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