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UN makes $450m plea for Pakistan flood aid
11 Aug 2010The UN has launched a $459 million (£293 million) appeal to provide help to millions of flood victims in Pakistan.
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said the fund would cover the immediate relief period of up to 90 days.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said "the worst monsoon-related floods in living memory" had affected more than 14 million people and that at least six or seven million required immediate humanitarian assistance including food, clean water, shelter and medical care.
Its plea for funfd followed a demand from the Taliban in Pakistan for the government to reject Western aid, saying it would only be siphoned off by corrupt officials.
“We urge the government not to take Western aid,” Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
“The government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the centre are desperate to get it, not for the people affected but to make their bank accounts bigger,” he said, referring to the north-western province hardest hit by the floods.
The US stepped up aid by pledging an extra $20 million for victims of the floods, which have killed more than 1,600 people, forced two million from their homes and affected about 14 million people. US efforts may win Washington some support in Pakistan where anti-American sentiment runs high.
“Let's not talk about politics. We were trapped here and they came. You cannot imagine the terrible feeling I had and how happy we are now,” said Abdul Rehman, 37, who was evacuated by a US helicopter after being stranded with a new-born baby and wife in the Swat valley.
The army, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 63-year history, has taken the lead in relief efforts, reinforcing the faith many Pakistanis have in their military and highlighting the ineffectiveness of the government.
Analysts say the army would not try to take over the country as it has vowed to stay out of politics and is busy fighting the Taliban and al Qaeda.
In Britain, Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's former chief of staff, said the West should not rule out talks with al Qaeda.
“No group should be beyond talking to, including al Qaeda,” he told BBC's Radio 4 Today programme. “It would be a very long process of discussion, assuming you could ever find the leadership of such a group.”
In practice, he said that negotiations were more likely to take place with al Qaida-affiliated groups, such as Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines or Shahab in Somalia, rather than the central leadership.
“Those are the people you will be talking to rather than, probably, Osama bin Laden at the centre,” he said.
Mr Powell suggested that opening talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan could prove easier, although again he warned that it would be a lengthy process.
“Assuming you can make contact with them, you would then want to have a secret negotiation because anything that takes place in public would be impossible, both for western governments while they are still fighting the Taliban, and of course for the Taliban themselves looking like they are making concessions,” he said.
He said that history had shown that effective negotiations could only take place when both sides accepted that they could not win.
It was important therefore that Britain and the United States and their allies in the international coalition did not to send out the message that they were pulling out.
“If you think of Malaya, if you think of Cyprus, if think of the Palestinian Protectorate, we didn't say we were going to go, we carried on fighting and we carried on negotiating at the same time,” he said.
“To be honest, sending a message saying you're going is not terribly helpful to negotiators trying to make peace.”
Reader views (2)
Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are suggesting the over financially endowed, donate most of their wealth to good causes. As they are doing.
Let Pakistan's super wealthy, and its diaspora, lead the way in donating large portions of their wealth to the relief and rebuilding of Pakistan. Pakistanis are at a crucial crossroads. They have arrived at a disastrous time when personal wealth needs to be sacrificed for the benefit of the many and their country. After the rebuilding of homes, schools etc, there is going to be need for fresh water, medical aid as well as importing and distributing foods. Not only have agricultural crops been destroyed, but the granaries and homes stores of food have gone.
Many countries will give very generously. In the face on this mammoth disaster, Pakistanis hanging onto riches and wealth, at home and abroad, are going to be viewed as being obscenely selfish and unpatriotic.
- James, London, 11/08/2010 14:04
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Sorry, but Pakistan's history of venal corruptibility when it comes to skimming off all kinds of aid and aid packages, has got it into the position today of no one trusting them. Any international efforts to help rescue the disaster victims, will have to be coordinated and strictly operated by officials and or the military of international countries. Pakistan cannot be counted on to do the best for its people.
- M Gregson, London, 11/08/2010 12:10
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