Brussels, 25/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - To lighten the burden on the Afghan population faced with an alarming humanitarian situation that risks still worsening, the European Commission has decided to release 4 million euro in humanitarian assistance. The financing decision is progressing according to the rapid procedure that enables Echo (Community's Humanitarian Office) to respond as quickly as possible to emergency situations. This humanitarian aid will be followed by other forms of financing that will be decided depending on how the situation in the country evolves and the scale of the movement of Afghan refugees predicted into neighbouring countries on a massive scale, under the threat of the American retaliation for the attacks of 11 September.
The 4 million euro have as goal to help United Nations agencies partners of Echo on the ground (the High Committee for Refugees and the World Food Programme), as well as the International Committee o the Red Cross to preposition their stocks (tents, kitchen equipment and blankets), to deploy emergency intervention teams and establish logistical networks to prepare for the mass inflow of refugees in the region.
The 4 million euro whose payment has just been decided takes the total amount of funding granted by Echo for its humanitarian programmes in Afghanistan to 23.3 million euro for 2001.
Commenting on the decision, European Commission President Romano Prodi declared in a press release: "I am concerned at the humanitarian situation that affects the populations of the region. It is our duty to continue to back the civilian populations in Afghanistan and refuges in the region. If necessary, we are prepared to increase out aid to the UNHCR, to the WFP, to the International Committee of the Red Cross and partner NGOs who are undertaking precious and vital work" (see below).
The President in Office of the Council, Guy Verhostadt, for his part, declared: "This aid comes within the framework of decisions taken by the Extraordinary Council held in Brussels last Friday and which made aid to victims, as much as combating terrorism, a priority".
Prodi thanks Pakistan
At a meeting with Ambassadors from Asian countries to the EU, on 24 September, at a time when the Union Troika was preparing to head off for Islamabad, European Commission President Romano Prodi welcomed the "courage that Pakistan has shown in deciding to co-operate in the fight against terrorism, despite the enormous risks that this could represent for the country's internal stability and the economic situation". As for the suffering of the Afghan population, he recalled that, for years now, the Union had provided the country with over 40 million euro in humanitarian assistance a year from the EU budget (not forgetting the individual contributions from Member States) and hoped that humanitarian organisations would be able to resume "their work" on the ground, before the beginning of winter and the "very real risk of famine" that it comprises. The EU "continues to believe that durable peace in Afghanistan will only be possible with the setting up of a broad-based government", he added (see other article).
In addition, Mr. Prodi recalled the new strategy adopted by the European Commission for relations with Asia (see EURPE of 5 September, p.10), placing emphasis on the regional dimension and a better balance between economic, political, social and cultural aspects, as well as co-operation with countries of this continent with such divergent situations.