DEVELOPMENT: EU to Resume Humanitarian Aid to Afghanistan

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Brian Kenety

BRUSSELS, Nov 14 2001 (IPS) - The capture of the Afghan capital, Kabul, this week by Northern Alliance fighters, has raised EU’s hopes to resume humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

The EU Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) is finalising a 15- million euro (13.5-million-U.S. dollar) humanitarian aid for the needy in Afghanistan.

This includes significant assistance for the area around Mazar- I-Sharif, a town captured by the anti-Taliban forces at the weekend that should allow the establishment of a vital corridor to send food aid via Uzbekistan.

“There is good news, as far as access is concerned, from the events of the last 48 hours, because it does give us the opportunity to get more aid into the country”, said Michael Curtis, an EU spokesperson.

Noting the volatile situation in Afghanistan – including reports of killings and looting – he called on all parties to the conflict to respect the neutrality of humanitarian aid and allow free access for humanitarian workers and to guarantee their security.

“The events are encouraging, but we shouldn’t get too excited. There was a serious humanitarian situation in Afghanistan before the 11th of September, it has worsened since then and it is not going to get better over night”, he said.

“With the Taliban out of the way in some parts of the country, it does facilitate the access of aid. But it is clear that we are not out of the woods yet”, said Curtis.

There are an estimated one million internally displaced people (IDP) in Afghanistan and nearly four times that number who fled the violence and drought and remain outside the country. In northern Afghanistan, the country’s so-called “hunger belt”, about three million people will have to rely on aid agencies to feed them throughout the winter, which ends in March.

The area around Mazar-I-Sharif has a large population of IDP and ECHO will support three NGOs (Action Contre la Faim-France, SCF-UK and Aide M,dicale Internationale-FR) that are implementing programmes in this location.

Measures for the Mazar-I-Sharif region include therapeutic and supplementary feeding centres (to be established in IDP camps before winter sets in), special food rations for children, and support for hospital and clinics.

Details of the European Commission’s decision will be released later in the week once it is formally adopted. Commenting on the proposed decision to focus on the region, Poul Nielson, the European Commissioner responsible for development and humanitarian aid, highlighted the importance of delivering relief inside the whole of Afghanistan.

“With tried and tested aid agencies operating in the humanitarian front line, we are working together to do our utmost to ensure that the relief gets through to those who need it most. Humanitarian assistance is an absolute priority”, he said.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sunday began an emergency airlift of thousands of tents and plastic sheets with the arrival of an Ilyushin-76 cargo plane in Termez, Uzbekistan, carrying 45 tonnes of humanitarian supplies for possible use inside Afghanistan.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP), also operating from the Uzbek border town of Termez, has begun loading tonnes of food into barges ready to send it across the river into Afghanistan, before being taken by truck across northern Afghanistan.

The WFP will unload supplies at Hairaton, a town about 80 kilometres from Mazar-I-Sharif.

This month, the WFP has delivered 27,000 metric tonnes of food aid into Afghanistan – over half the Agency’s monthly target – but remains concerned for the safety and security of its local staff, primarily those working in Kabul and Mazar-I Sharif.

However, Curtis acknowledged that the security of the people getting the food in Afghanistan and the local Afghan personnel was of major concern.

“The security situation is compounded by problems with communications. As you know, the Taliban have banned the use of radios – and radios are an essential tool in any humanitarian aid operation to ensure delivery of supplies,” he said.

“Of course with winter coming and the snow – this adds to the problem. It is a logistical problem, particularly for our partner, the World Food Programme. We are financing their aid deliveries and logistical operations – for example, to clear snow off the mountain passes to increase their volume of trucks,” said Curtis.

At any given moment over the past few days, WFP had more than 2,000 trucks moving inside Afghanistan, delivering food aid to various parts of the country, in particular rural areas. “The best way to get aid into Afghanistan at the moment is by road … We are hoping to finance the purchase of (an additional) 190 trucks,” he said.

Doubts, however, remain over whether the food is being distributed to the most needy once it arrives, or whether rival fighters are commandeering the supplies to feed their armies.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is reportedly considering offering logistical support to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Aside from hunger, the physical safety of Afghans civilians is a major concern.

Speaking on the sidelines of a human rights conference in Dehli, India, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, expressed concern that the Northern Alliance would exact revenge on populations until recently living in Taliban-controlled areas.

“When territory has changed hands in recent years in Afghanistan, there has been a terrible massacre of civilians, raping of women, a retaliatory sort of destruction by whomever comes in to take a town or a city,” the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quoted her as saying.