U.S. comes to aid of Afghan drought victims
Associated Press, Peshawar, Pakistan
Feb. 8, 2001
- A plane loaded with U.S. emergency supplies for drought-stricken Afghan refugees who are dying of cold and hunger arrived Wednesday in this Pakistani border city.
Pakistan "Indescribable suffering" among refugees in Jalozai
UN OCHA Integrated Regional Information Network for Central Asia (IRIN-CA)
Feb. 1, 2001
- The situation for thousands of Afghan refugees in the makeshift refugee camp of Jalozai, near Peshawar in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, is now beyond critical, according to relief workers. UN officials have now made an urgent call for immediate international assistance to deal with what many are describing as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today.
UN Asks for Help for Afghan Refugees
AP - Peshawar, Pakistan
Jan. 29, 2001
- The United Nations issued an urgent appeal Monday for international assistance to help more than 72,000 new Afghan refugees living in squalor in northwestern Pakistan. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says it fears an epidemic caused by filthy conditions where refugees use the same water to wash, drink and go to the toilet.
No response to urgent UN appeals to feed Afghan refugees: WFP
Agence France-Presse
Jan. 15, 2001
- International donors have failed to respond to an urgent appeal for 4.9 million dollars to help feed 60,000 Afghan refugees this year, the United Nations food agency said Monday.
Afghan refugees eating grass, freezing temperature kills 18 children
The News: Jang
Jan. 11, 2001
- UN refugee officials appealed for urgent donor aid on Wednesday to help save the lives of thousands of Afghan refugees pouring into Pakistan, some of whom had been reduced to eating grass.
Conditions bleak for Afghan refugees: Thousands trying to escape civil war; many dying
Associated Press
Jan. 10, 2001
- Clutching her shivering daughter beneath her tattered burqa, Athar Bibi waited Tuesday for the United Nations to move them from the squalor of Jalozai refugee camp.
Seven Afghan refugee children die from biting cold in Pakistan
Agence France-Presse
Jan. 8, 2001
- Seven Afghan refugee children died at a camp near here as a cold wave swept northwest Pakistan, camp residents and local authorities said Monday.
Afghan refugees living in miserable condition in camps
The Nation (Pakistan)
Dec. 31, 2000
- Amidst chilly cold and drought, thousand of Afghans, mostly women and children, are living under the open sky in various camps around Peshawar, and the United Nations affiliated agencies as well as the host government have yet to take steps for the protection of the lives of these helpless people.
The Afghan Women's Mission urgently appeals to its supporters to help refugees in Jalozai, Akora Khattak and other camps in the North Western area of Pakistan. At least eighteen children in Jalozai Camp have died since a bitter cold wave in December. Many more are at risk from pneumonia and malnutrition.
Most of the refugees are newly arrived, fatigued from travel, traumatized through loss of loved ones, and without protection from the cold. They have fled due to a combination of drought and intense fighting in Afghanistan. Yusuf Hassan of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) tells what these desperate people have to look forward to, "Jalozai is a makeshift site. It is an open place. People are exposed to the freezing weather. There is no proper shelter, no sanitation or [clean] water facilities." Some refugees have been reduced to eating grass.
With little relief in sight, the lives of refugees in the Jalozai, Akora and other camps are in serious danger. This us especially true for the children. Our partners in the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) are working to distribute blankets amongst these unfortunate victims. Hundreds of blankets have already been distributed. Please help us to ensure that as many of the refugees survive the harsh winter as possible.
