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CNN Saturday Morning News
Roundtable Discussion of Relief Efforts in Afghan Region
Aired October 13, 2001 - 08:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Even before U.S. air strikes, Afghanistan was a country in desperate straits. Twenty years of war, a relentless drought since the mid-'90s and a refugee crisis as millions fled the brutal reach of the Taliban.
So, when the U.S. began dropping bombs last weekend, it also bombarded the countryside with food and medicine. We're going to talk about the humanitarian effort with a panel of experts.
But first, let's pick up CNN's John Vause in Islamabad to set the stage for us -- John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good evening from Islamabad, Marty.
As you know, those aid drops were continuing from those C-17 cargo planes. We heard earlier about 70,000 ration packs were dropped over the country. By all accounts they don't taste very good, but they do contain about 2,000 calories. That's enough to keep an adult going for an entire day.
Earlier, the Taliban embassy here in Islamabad said that those ration packs were being collected and burned and destroyed. There was no way of verifying that, however.
Some good news today. The U.N. says at least one convoy of trucks has made it through to the capital, Kabul. It's about a six hour drive from the border city of Peshawar here in Pakistan through Kabul. Well, that's six hours under the best of circumstances and this is far from that.
That 42 truck convoy was carrying about 1,000 tons of food. It's a very difficult journey. You might recall a couple of weeks ago the U.N. Food Program drove its food supplies in some way to Afghanistan, but then transferred that food onto donkeys so they could try and get that food across the mountains and to the people that need it the most.
Now, in many ways the aid agencies are up against the clock. Winter is about five to six weeks away, when that snow starts falling it will become increasingly difficult to get aid into the country where it needs to be. The U.N. estimates there's something like eight million Afghans already going hungry and unless they can start shipping about 1,000 tons of food every day between now and those first snow falls, which is about 52,000 tons they say they need, there will be widespread starvation -- Marty.
SAVIDGE: John Vause joining us from Pakistan, thank you.
Let's introduce our panel to discuss the relief effort for Afghanistan. Peter Bell is the president of CARE, USA. He joins us from here in Atlanta. In New York, Carol Bellamy is the executive director of UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund. And Nicholas De Torrente is the executive director of Doctors Without Borders. Welcome to all of you. Thank you.
Peter, let me start with you only because you're sitting right next to me. But let's talk about all of these organizations -- CARE. How well positioned are you right now?
PETER BELL, PRESIDENT, CARE USA: CARE has been in Afghanistan since 1961. We have a staff of 400 people who are working in Afghanistan. But they have had to restrict their activities to providing clean water for approximately 200,000 people and also feeding 10,000 widows and their children, about 60,000 people in all.
Most of our other activities in basic education and providing food in rural areas have had to be curtailed. We are preparing right now both to respond within Afghanistan as soon as the security and communications situation permit and also to respond in Pakistan itself if refugees can get across the border.
SAVIDGE: All right, let me bring in Carol Bellamy.
Carol, UNICEF, now how much have you been interrupted in your work as a result of the air campaign going on militarily?
CAROL BELLAMY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNICEF: Well, I think, as you know, most of the or all of the international staff of all of the agencies are no longer in Afghanistan. And we still have local staff in Afghanistan. We're still focusing, as are all the agencies, on the immediate crisis. So it's really food and water and blankets and medicines. The other work, as Peter just said, has had to go on hold at this point. But we're still getting convoys in and this crisis has been longstanding, far before 11 September. So we've got to do whatever we can do.
SAVIDGE: And Nicolas De Torrente of Doctors Without Borders, I presume that you are working to get medical aid into this country. Isn't that correct?
NICOLAS DE TORRENTE, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Yes, that is. And we have managed to do so in the northern part and we have a vast network of hospitals and clinics around Mazar-i-Sharif and Herat in the north. And those projects we're able to bring in medical convoys in last week, bringing a six month medical supply. The situation is more and more difficult in other parts of the country.
As Carol said, our international staff had to leave. Our local national staff, who are very able and committed, are staying and are doing their very best. And in the northeastern part of the country, in the Northern Alliance controlled areas, there we still have an international team, medical team running a hospital and running clinics for residents and displaced persons.
SAVIDGE: And what is the biggest problem medically that you are seeing as far as the patients you treat, those you look after?
DE TORRENTE: Well, Afghanistan is a very, very poor country. It was a poor country 20 years ago. Twenty years of war have destroyed the health infrastructure. People have experienced crisis after crisis. So the baseline health situation is very poor. As Carol will tell you, as well, infant mortality rates are very high, maternal mortality rates very high. And so we, we're just treating the very basic health problems -- diarrhea, acute respiratory tract infections and the like.
And on top of that, we've seen recurrent epidemics that have come up. We've had a cholera epidemic this year in the north of the country with several hundred cases. We've had a scurvy epidemic as a result of the deteriorating nutritional situation. Scurry if a Vitamin C deficiency and very rare, you know, except in situations of extreme nutritional stress.
So this is a very worrisome situation on the medical front in addition to being a very difficult situation on the nutritional and food side.
SAVIDGE: Peter, you say that your people are ready to move and you have the supplies. Have you been given any indication by the U.S. government when you can sort of open up the floodgates?
BELL: We really don't know at this stage. It's extremely difficult, of course, as long as the bombing continues. But we are at this very moment assembling kits for shelter that include tents, blankets, capholans (ph) as well as food kits that will at least provide basic, the very basic necessities to people. And we will be ready to move as soon as we get the signal that there is sufficient security and that we can communicate.
SAVIDGE: Carol, let me ask you this. When you begin moving supplies, at least in larger numbers, will the U.S. military be providing security? Is that something you want, something you don't want? Explain to us.
BELLAMY: I think that generally humanitarian agencies try and maintain that neutrality, whatever military there might be, because we have to worry about the safety and security of our own staff and if humanitarian work is seen as aligned with anyone in particular, it could put our staff in some difficulties.
We obviously take care and we are moving and we're getting in at this point, but it's certainly under much greater restrictions.
SAVIDGE: All right, we're going to take a break for a moment. We'll continue our roundtable discussion after that and talk about what those of you who are watching may be able to do to assist. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SAVIDGE: Looking there at images of what is bound to be a growing refugee problem, some say a crisis, maybe even a potential disaster.
We want to resume our discussion. Joining us is Peter Bell. He is the president of CARE. Also, Carol Bellamy is in our New York offices, the executive director of UNICEF. And Nicolas De Torrente is the executive director of Doctors Without Borders.
Mr. De Torrente, let me ask you this. Winter is obviously coming. Give us a sense of how severe winter is in that region of the world.
DE TORRENTE: Well, this is a country that is, where we have very high mountain ranges and in a lot of places you need to cross passes to be able to access remote valleys and villages that are away from the main roads. So we have, we are racing against the clock. The passes are, some of them are closing very, very soon and we need to get supplies in to reach these remote areas. Winter is very bitter, very cold and people, even last year there were deaths reported just from freezing conditions.
SAVIDGE: Ms. Bellamy, we heard the president of the United States requesting the children raise money for the children of Afghanistan. First of all, what do you think of that? And second, how effective can that really be or is this sort of a show gesture?
SAVIDGE: Well, I think it's a good idea. I think, you know, at least through UNICEF kids have been helping kids for years in trick or treat for UNICEF at Halloween time. I think it's a good thing for kids to understand that the world is a smaller world and they can make a difference. And as Nicolas said before, the conditions for children, particularly in Afghanistan, are horrendous, some of the highest infant mortality rates, under five mortality rates. The girls aren't allowed to do anything. The boys now have been forced to go into child labor because the women aren't allowed to work.
So if you can make that kids connection, maybe that'll give Americans a sense of something they can do.
SAVIDGE: Peter, let me ask you this. What is it that your organization needs most? Is it money? Is it people who come forward and say they have large supplies of food? What is it you need? BELL: At this point we are attempting to raise $15 million to support our initial response and we've raised just $2 million at this stage. So right now what is most, of course, what is most important is to have conditions within Afghanistan that allow us to operate. But in order to operate, we're going to need $13 million more in funding.
SAVIDGE: Carol, the same situation? Is it money that can help you best? BELLAMY: I think we're all raising money. People have been quite generous so far, although recent pledges of about $700 million for humanitarian aid from a number of governments, we haven't yet seen much of that money. I don't mean only UNICEF. I mean the aid agencies. But, yes, money is needed. As Nicolas said, we have a six week window. Winter is coming. Conditions are terrible and if somebody is going to say I'm going to write the check in, you know, six months from now, that's not going to help very much.
SAVIDGE: And Nicolas, how long do you think this crisis is going to last as far as the needs on the part of the people medically and food wise?
DE TORRENTE: Well, I think it's been a longstanding crisis and everyone was very worried and very alarmed about the deterioration before September 11 and the focus has now shifted, you know, towards Afghanistan. Before that it was already very, very bad. Therefore I think it's going to take, this is -- and during the winter months we're going to have a very severe situation if we don't get relief supplies in very quickly. But even after that, we're going to continue to experience a longstanding crisis. This is a very deep and protracted problem that's going to take a lot of effort to address.
SAVIDGE: Well, hopefully we can have you all back to talk about an improved situation in Afghanistan at some point.
Thank you, Peter Bell, the president of CARE USA, also Carol Bellamy, the executive director of UNICEF, and Nicolas De Torrente is the executive director of Doctors Without Borders. We wish all of your organizations well. Thank you.
DE TORRENTE: Thank you.
BELL: Thank you very much.
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