Fw: Many Afghan children might die by March (Newsweek)

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg at tin.it>]

 The Littlest Victims
 NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE
 
 January 5, 2002 | The winter's death toll won't be
 counted until the spring. But for aid agencies working
 in Afghanistan, one grim fact is certain: thousands of
 Afghan children will not survive to see the thaw. "We
 don't know how many children are dying on a day-by-day
 basis," UNICEF spokesman Alfred Ironside told
 NEWSWEEK. "But we do know that they are. They're dying
 of cold, they're dying of hunger, they're dying of
 disease."
 
 Afghanistan's troubles have long taken an especially
 heavy toll on its youngest citizens. After more than
 20 years of war and three years of drought, they are
 malnourished and at risk from hazards like land mines
 and unexploded bombs. Many have spent their entire
 lives in refugee camps either inside or outside their
 country's borders. Their infant mortality rate is one
 of the highest in the world, with one in four dying
 before their fifth birthday from illnesses like
 measles, diarrhea and pneumonia.
 
 Winter, inevitably, is the toughest time for
 Afghanistan's children. When the United States began
 attacking the country's Taliban rulers last October
 over their refusal to hand over terror mastermind
 Osama bin Laden, aid organizations predicted that the
 new outbreak of fighting would prevent the delivery of
 desperately needed humanitarian supplies. Carol
 Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, warned that as
 many as another 100,000 children could die by March if
 they did not get assistance.
 
 For now, this worst-case scenario may have been staved
 off. Aid groups have managed to deliver food: UNICEF
 has sent in more than 60 relief convoys since
 September, and Save the Children's Nilgun Ogun says
 her organization was able to drop off several months
 worth of supplies before snow made some southern
 routes impassable. Nor, for the moment, are there any
 indications of epidemics in the region's crowded
 refugee camps.
 
 Nonetheless, few aid workers are optimistic. Relief
 workers say that local warlords are stealing food
 shipments, and the country's poor infrastructure and
 continuing instability makes it uncertain whether
 convoys will be able to penetrate rural areas. "While
 aid might have reached the country, aid within the
 country might not be reaching all those who need it,"
 says Ironside. "Perhaps the situation is not as dire
 as we might have imagined two months ago, [but] tens
 of thousands of children remain at risk."
 
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