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WFP to Provide Iran with $19 Million to Aid Afghan Refugees
TEHRAN, Sept 30 (News Agencies) - Iran is scheduled to receive a $19 million aid package from the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) in order to help it to cope with an influx of Afghan refugees fleeing in case of U.S. military action against Afghanistan.
Iran's state IRNA news agency, citing the WFP office in Tehran, said Sunday that the number of Afghans rushing towards the Iran-Afghan border could reach 400,000 if the U.S. decides to strike.
It said additional aid could be provided depending on the number of refugees seeking shelter along the border with Iran.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan Thursday asked countries to donate $584 million (640 million euros) to aid the Afghan refugees, with $268 million allocated to go to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and $188 million to the WFP, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
UNHCR has already received $12 million, spokesman Ron Redmond said - $3.3 million from England, $4 million from the United States, $3.5 million from Germany, $1 million from Denmark, and $500,000 from Greece.
Just days after the September 11th attacks, Iran announced that it was sealing off its border with neighboring Afghanistan amid fears of U.S. military strikes against that country which Washington claims is sheltering Osama bin Laden, its prime suspect in the attacks on Washington and New York.
Earlier Sunday, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi in Cairo reiterated that Tehran would facilitate relief for Afghan refugees on the other side of its border with Afghanistan but would prevent any more from entering its territory, AFP reported.
Kharazi, following talks in Cairo with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa, said, "We have prepared facilities to establish camps inside Afghanistan with the help of the UNHCR."
"We will rush to them with help with all the facilities," he told reporters. "We have already more than two million [Afghan] refugees, I think that is enough for us."
The UNHCR has said that 11 refugee camps are planned along the 900-kilometer (560-mile) border, four more than previously announced.
On the same note, China said Sunday it was considering offering aid to Pakistan to help with the expected influx of Afghan refugees, state media said.
"China is actively considering providing whatever help within its power through bilateral channels," Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told his Pakistani counterpart Abdul Sattar in a telephone call, according to Xinhua news agency.
Tang praised Pakistan's efforts so far in dealing with Afghan refugees and said China was urging the international community to provide necessary aid, the agency reported.
The Chinese foreign minister also said that China understood and supported Pakistan's positions and measures on anti-terrorism issues, according to the agency.
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