UN dismisses cut in SWA relief operations

UN dismisses cut in SWA relief operations

Updated at: 1030 PST, Tuesday, November 24, 2009 UNITED NATIONS: A top United Nations official Monday denied that relief operations in South Waziristan had been cutback following the deteriorating security situation, saying the Pakistani UN staff was helping the uprooted civilians in the region. John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, also said the UN’s flash appeal to help Pakistan’s the internally displaced persons (IDPs) was revised upwards to about $640 million, of which 60 per cent had already been funded, which he described as satisfactory response to the appeal so far. The United Nations had sought $540 in the wake of anti-Taliban military operation in the Swat region from where tens of thousands of civilians fled to other parts of the NWFP to take shelter with their families or in the UN camps. Most of them have now returned back following the operation to flush out the militants. The appeal was later upgraded by about $100 million as Pakistan Army launched a similar offensive in South Waziristan. “There is no question of scaling back the operations,” he said when questioned at a news briefing about reported curtailment of the humanitarian operation following last month’s terrorist attack on UN World Food Programme (WFP) office in Islamabad. While international staff had been cutback because of the security concerns, Holmes said Pakistani workers, along with NGOs personnel, continued providing relief to some 300,000 IDPs from Waziristan, most of whom are staying with their relatives.