PRESS BRIEFING BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME

If negotiations with the Taliban to permit women to continue to work in Afghanistan were unsuccessful, then delivering assistance to victims of the drought currently being experienced by that country would become extremely difficult, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

The Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Catherine Ann Bertini, was providing information on the United Nations response to a severe drought currently affecting more than 60 million people in Central and South Asia, particularly in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, India and Iran.

Ms. Bertini said the WFP would be disappointed if the many women already working on behalf of the people of Afghanistan through the United Nations could not work in that country, because the impact on the agency's ongoing programmes would be very harsh. Targeting recipients of assistance would be affected as the agency had ensured that women were being provided with more than a half share of what had been distributed. Also, the WFP, in support of women's projects and education programmes for girls, had begun working with hundreds of Afghan women.

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) had formed a drought task force, she said, which would organize a coordinated effort to call for immediate response from the international community. Afghanistan had been hardest hit by the drought, as it was also experiencing the ongoing effects of civil war and a collapsed economy. About 8 to 12 million people were affected and about 33 per cent of those had access to almost no food. Livestock had not been fed and crops that depended on rainfall had been decimated, further exacerbating the crisis, as the Afghan people depended almost exclusively on their own agricultural production. However, there would be a more concerted effort to provide even more aid, food and other commodities to boost supplies for the people.

She said the WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had just completed a crop assessment mission in Tajikistan, the second- most affected country. Almost half the population of some 6.2 million people were facing the severity of the drought. Wheat production was 30 per cent lower than in past years. Assistance was already being given to that country and proposals had been made on how much food and seeds were required.

She added that there were about 2.2 million people feeling the drought's effects in Pakistan. Also, an assessment team was expected to arrive in Iran later in the week. It was estimated that about 18 of the 28 provinces in Iraq had also fallen victim to the drought.

Bertini Press Briefing - 2 - 19 July 2000

Countries in the Middle East, particularly Jordan and Syria, were also experiencing severe drought problems, for which an international appeal had already been made, she continued. Meanwhile, very large numbers of people in India had been affected, but recent rains were improving the situation. So far, the Government had been responding to the needs of the people by providing food and other assistance.

The United Nations effort, led by the Secretary-General, had been useful in trying to alleviate the negative effects of the drought in the Horn of Africa, she said. She hoped that a similar consolidated United Nations effort could be undertaken to help the people in the Middle East, Central and South Asia.

A correspondent asked if the Executive Director knew how many people had died as a result of the drought. Ms. Bertini said she did not know.

Another correspondent asked about the estimated amount of aid required for the drought victims.

Ms. Bertini said the figures were still being estimated, but she could make available estimates for food requirements for countries that had already been assessed. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) should be able to give figures for non-food requirements.

Was the WFP assuming the leadership role in the assessment missions to Tajikistan and Iran? asked another correspondent.

Ms. Bertini said that with problems of this nature, the assessment team was usually comprised of both the WFP and the FAO. Such a team had just completed the assessment mission in Tajikistan and another would be heading for Iran later in the week. Assessment had already been completed in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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