HindustanTimes.com Sunday, August 18, 2002
UN cuts rations as Afghan food aid runs out Simon Denyer (Reuters) Mazar-i-Sharif, August 18 The UN's World Food Programme is being forced to cut rations for millions of hungry and vulnerable Afghans because international donors have failed to stump up promised cash, officials say. Just seven months after Western nations pledged billions of dollars in aid to help rebuild Afghanistan, money is already running out for the most basic requirement - feeding people who continue to live on the borderline of survival. "The level of resources we are going to get will not be enough," said Guy Gauvreau, the WFP's representative for northern Afghanistan. "We're extremely worried about it. It's understandable - there's a drought in southern Africa - but we cannot forget Afghanistan," he said. Some six million Afghans still need food aid over the next year, according to UN figures. The WFP has appealed for $285 million this year but is still short of more than $90 million - or 200,000 tonnes of food - and the lack of cash is beginning to hurt. Afghanistan is only slowly getting back on its feet after 23 years of war and the worst drought in living memory. The south remains bone dry for a fourth year, and while there has been decent rainfall in the north, many people are still struggling. UNPRECEDENTED DESTITUTION Shortages of seeds or oxen combined with locust infestations and a lack of security in many areas all limited the harvest, which Gauvreau says was "good, but not enough to feed people". Afghanistan already has one of the highest levels of infant and maternal mortality in the world and life expectancy is among the lowest. The drought has brought people to a unprecedented levels of destitution, aid workers say. More than half the country's livestock has been lost in the last four years, with massive deaths and distress selling last year. Rebuilding of herds is only happening slowly this year. "People have sold livestock, mortgaged their land, some have gone into debt, even sold the beams of their houses," said Andrew Pinney of Irish aid agency GOAL. "And they have sold in a terrible market, that's how desperate they have become." Pinney says some parents in the north have even been forced to sell their daughters as child brides, girls as young as eight fetching between $150 and $800. "The practice seems to have stopped in the last six months as food aid has produced some sort of buffer," Pinney said, adding continued support was essential to help communities recover. But support is running out. Only a fraction of the $4.5 billion in aid pledged to Afghanistan in January has so far come through. Donors have cited security concerns and Afghanistan's still limited capacity to absorb aid, but critics blame bureaucracy and many Afghans feel the outside world has simply failed to live up to its promises. RATIONS CUT AS BRUSSELS, WASHINGTON SQUABBLE Humanitarian sources say Washington, which has so far provided the lion's share of WFP's funding for Afghanistan this year, is demanding Brussels meet more of the shortfall. As the two capitals squabble over who should pay the bill, Gauvreau is being forced to cut back on aid for vulnerable Afghans in the north. Former refugees returning from abroad used to receive a one- time handout from WFP of 250 kg of wheat to help them get back on their feet. That ration has been cut this month to just 100 kg, and Gauvreau says he fears a further cut to 50 kg within two weeks if aid does not arrive fast. Crucial food-for-work programmes -- where communities receive aid in return for digging wells or canals or improving their land -- also face the axe throughout the north. Gauvreau needs to find 18,000 tonnes of wheat from somewhere to truck into the mountains before the roads close around the end of October, to help two million people get through the harsh winter. "What we are afraid of is that if the winterisation plan does not have enough resources to implement, there's going to be a major nutritional crisis in the mountain areas," he said. © Hindustan Times Ltd. 2002. Reproduction in any form is prohibited without prior permission To send your feedback via web click here or email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
