UN seeks $157 mill. for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan

Press Release
IHA/642

NEW YORK, 4 February (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- The United Nations today appealed for $157 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 now facing their nineteenth winter at war. Half the population in the capital of Kabul alone are dependent on the United Nations and its partners for food, medicines and basic services. Conditions in Kabul and Mazar-I-Sharif, as well as the areas of Bamiyan and Badakhshan, deteriorated in 1997, with a concomitant increase in the need for urgent humanitarian assistance. The presence of some 10 million landmines pose a continued obstacle to the livelihoods of many in Afghanistan, and an impediment to the return of Afghan refugees.

Against this backdrop, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and donor governments have developed a common assistance strategy for Afghanistan, which is aimed at forging closer links between peacemaking efforts and relief and development activities. This strategy is based on such principles as non-discrimination against women and observance of other international human rights norms.

The 1998 consolidated appeal for Afghanistan has identified priority needs in the areas of food security and food aid, support for the voluntary repatriation of refugees, primary health-care services, rural and urban rehabilitation, mine action, and drug control. These requirements have been identified according to the specific conditions in the various regions of the country.

The international community is requested to respond generously to this appeal, to relieve the protracted suffering of the Afghan people and to provide a basis for the longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan.