wfn.org | Famine and threat of war force Afghans from their homes

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2001-265

Famine and threat of war force Afghans from their homes

by Cedric Pulford

     (ENI) The development agency Christian Aid has warned that at least 3.5 
million people face starvation in Afghanistan, with only two weeks of food 
relief left in the country.

     Estimates are being revised daily as thousands of refugees rush to the 
borders amid fears of bombing raids by the United States and allies following 
the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

     Chris Buckley, Christian Aid's program officer for Afghanistan, told ENI 
that the famine had originated in a three-year drought in the north and west 
of the country. The United Nations had estimated, before the present 
political crisis, that 5.5 million people--about a quarter of the Afghan 
population--would be dependent on food aid by December.

     Buckley said that with Afghanistan's borders now closed, no food was 
coming into the country. Much of the imported wheat had come from the United 
States, he added.

     Christian Aid, which is supported by all of Britain's mainstream 
churches, also expressed its concern by joining 13 other UK-based aid and 
development charities in what the organizers described as an "unprecedented 
joint call for restraint" by the United States and allies.

     Hundreds of Islamic clerics have urged Osama Bin Laden to leave 
Afghanistan in a bid to preempt an attack on the country by the US and 
allies. But it was uncertain whether Bin Laden, alleged to be the mastermind 
of the terrorist strikes against the US, would comply.

     In a statement issued on September 19, the UK-based charities expressed 
their horror at the terrorist attacks in the US, but warned against a 
"descent into a spiral of violence" if military retaliation caused the deaths 
of many more innocent people. Signatories to the statement include Amnesty 
International UK, CAFOD (a Roman Catholic development agency), Oxfam GB, 
Save the Children UK and Tearfund.

     A similar statement--signed by 1000 US religious leaders of various 
faiths--posted on the website of the National Council of Churches in the US 
warned against "indiscriminately retalia[ting] in ways that bring on even 
more loss of innocent life."

     Along with the United Nations and other international non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs), Christian Aid has withdrawn its expatriate staff from 
Afghanistan because of the prospect of military action against the country.

      Although Christian Aid still had local staff in place, the crisis meant 
that they could not operate, Buckley explained. "There have been reports from 
some NGOs of harassment [by the ruling Taliban and its supporters] of local 
staff because they are perceived as being on the Western side."

     Such incidents look set to get worse if the United States and allies 
mount attacks in the country.

     Christian Aid's activities in Afghanistan have included supporting 
health and farming projects as well as food relief. All are now under threat, 
and Buckley does not see the expatriates returning before December even if 
the political crisis is resolved. By that time winter will have added yet 
more to the numbers of those who cannot feed themselves.

     Buckley stressed that the Afghan people wanted to be able to feed 
themselves. He had visited a camp near Herat with 200,000 people and spoken 
with a group of farmers. "There were 10 in a family occupying a tent two 
meters by two meters. They said, 'We would rather go back to our land and die 
there'."

     Buckley added that food supplies were also in jeopardy in the parts of 
Afghanistan held by the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, although the danger 
had more to do with fighting than drought. These areas represented about 10 
per cent of the country.

     Meanwhile, a British cabinet minister, Clare Short, called for 
"proportionate" and "informed" military action in response to the terrorist 
attacks on the US.

     Short, the international development secretary in the government led by 
Tony Blair--who has promised to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the United 
States--said: "All serious people do not want a lot of innocent people to be 
bombed and lose their lives. Everyone who's got any influence ought to use it 
to try to achieve that outcome."

     Christian Aid is one of three member organizations of Action by Churches 
Together--an ecumenical emergency aid network supported by the World Council 
of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation--working in Afghanistan. The 
others are Norwegian Church Aid and Church World Service of the National 
Council of Churches in the US.