UN says more than a billion dollars needed this year

The United Nations and NGOs need US $1.18 billion immediately for the humanitarian and transitional assistance programme for Afghanistan, where an estimated nine million people require aid, a senior UN official said on Thursday. Kenzo Oshima, Emergency Relief Coordinator for the Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the UN and the NGOs were seeking these funds for the Immediate and Transitional Assistance Programme (ITAP) for Afghanistan 2002. ITAP was formally launched in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Thursday at the Presidential Palace. The launch was chaired by Sima Simar, Minister of Women’s Affairs and Vice Chair of Afghanistan’s interim authority. "Now is the time to deliver on the substantial promises made in Tokyo for the year 2002," Oshima said, who arrived in an overcast Kabul on Wednesday. He is due to leave for the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Friday. "We will only be able to achieve this goal if we help the Interim Authority build national capacity – an aim that will be at the core of our assistance programme," he added. Oshima said the UN was firmly committed to the reconstruction process promised by the international community at the Tokyo Conference five weeks ago, pledging up to US $4.5 billion. "The true test is whether we can make good on those pledges – whether we provide the aid that is desperately needed now, and whether we stay engaged for the long haul," he noted. A UN statement issued after Thursday's launch quoted Ashraf Ghani, Director, Afghanistan Assistance Coordination Authority (AACA), as saying that government ownership of the reconstruction process was imperative and that a "joint partnership" between the Interim Authority and the aid community was essential. UN spokesperson Stephanie Bunker said ITAP offered a comprehensive approach to relief, recovery, reconstruction and reintegration needs for Afghans in Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries. "Its important to act fast both because of the level of humanitarian needs and also to assist the interim authority to build its capacity," Bunker told IRIN in Kabul. The areas that require funding are food assistance, food security, agriculture, nutrition, health, water and sanitation, housing, mine action, education, refugees, returnees and reintegration assistance, governance and employment.