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U.N. Warns Afghan Humanitarian Crisis May Get Out Of Control
KABUL, Feb 13 (News Agencies) - U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Kenzo Oshima Tuesday warned the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan was "very serious" and the situation would run out of control if more aid did not flow in.
"We have various reports. The situation is serious, very serious," he told reporters upon his arrival in a U.N. plane here.
"If international assistance does not arrive in greater quantity and with most faith, the situation may become very serious indeed. The world should be really concerned about this," he said.
He said his visit was meant to show the United Nations was concerned about the worsening crisis in Afghanistan and that the world had not forgotten the war-ravaged country.
"I would like to do the best I can to arouse international interest and to mount a more effective international assistance to Afghanistan," he added.
The top-level visit on U.N. Chief Kofi Annan's directive comes as hundreds of people, mostly children, lost their lives in displacement camps this month, senior U.N. official Elian Duthoi said.
"It is significant because the donors are finally waking up to the crisis in Afghanistan," she said.
It follows a U.N. warning that Afghanistan is teetering on the edge of an abyss from which return might not be possible for many.
Oshima said after a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Zahed that the Taliban had requested stepping up of international assistance for the displaced people in Herat and northern cities of Mazar-i-Sharif and Baghlan.
"We said the United Nations takes this issue very seriously and the fact the Secretary General [Kofi Annan] sent me is a proof of that," he said.
Oshima said the country's plight would never come to an end unless the Taliban leadership agreed to a peaceful settlement to the crisis.
"No amount of international support can replace the effort that the Afghan people themselves and the leadership can do by bringing a peaceful solution to the conflict."
The Under Secretary General was then given a tour of Kabul, two-thirds of which has already been destroyed by years of civil war.
Along the five-kilometer long Darulaman road lined by bombed buildings, young and elderly female beggars stretched their hands as the convoy of black limousines carrying the U.N. guests passed.
"It is very sad to see so much suffering...Of course we know that the very cause of the suffering is the fighting," Oshima said.
The Taliban deputy foreign minister said Oshima promised increased U.N. assistance for Afghanistan's vulnerable population.
Zahed described the U.N. assistance so far delivered to Herat as "insufficient", but he voiced the hope that Oshima's visit would be followed by more aid.
Hundreds of people, displaced from their villages by the worst drought in memory, have reportedly died in western Herat and the northern province of Baghlan due to hunger and sub-zero temperatures.
Heading a five-member delegation, Oshima would also travel to Herat and the opposition-held northeastern province of Badakhshan, Duthoi said.
At least 80,000 displaced people are living in ill-equipped camps in Herat. Two planes were expected to land in Herat Tuesday with non-food aid, including blankets and tents, from Norway and possibly the United States, she said.
The United Nations said 80,000 were camped under plastic sheets at Jalozai in Peshawar, Pakistan, with no protection against freezing temperatures at night and no sanitation nor adequate drinking water.
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