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Kabul, Afghanistan: 2,000 Refugees Receive Food
"The refugees have no other choice than to return here, to their homeland. Sometimes, the government gives a plot of land to those who return but the plot is far outside the city. That's all they are give, at most. They have no food, no electricity, no drinking water and no shelter. That's why they come to Kabul and end up in provisional tents - hoping to meet someone who would help them live through the winter. It breaks your heart to see those skinny bare-footed children walk around in the cold" says Joop, the Dutch ORA project leader in Afghanistan.
Dorcas, together with its implementing partner Ora Afghanistan, assists2,000 refugees in Kabul in March and April.
The refugees are Afghans who fled the country during the fight agains the Russians and later on, the Taliban. Neighbouring Pakistan and Iran do not wish to host these people any longer and are cloing down one refugee centre afte the other. And this is the coldest winter in decades, with the temperature dropping well below -20 C.
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In addition, the soaring staple food prices have pushed 1.3 million previously food-secure people in rural Afghanistan into high risk food-insecurity, according to the latest assessment by the UN World Food Programme, making it even more difficult or the refugees to access food.
In urban areas about 900,000 Afghans are also estimated to have been dragged into acute food-insecurity over the past few months due to spiraling food prices and food shortages.
Staple food prices have increased by 100 percent in global markets and by over 60 percent in Afghan markets in the past 12 months. |
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| Monday, 14 April 2008 |
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