UN Wants $543 Million To Help Pakistan

May 21, 2009 2 Comments ›› Erik Wong

ISLAMABAD – The United Nations appealed Friday for $543 million to ease the “incredible suffering” of nearly 2 million refugees from Pakistan’s war against Taliban militants.

The world body said the money was urgently needed to fund some 165 projects drawn up by U.N. agencies and aid groups to assist civilians fleeing the conflict centered on the northwestern Swat Valley.

“The scale of this displacement is extraordinary in terms of size and speed and has caused incredible suffering,” Martin Mogwanja, the acting U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan, said in a statement.

“We are calling for generous support from the international community,” he said.

An estimated 1.9 million people have fled the fighting in Swat and two neighboring districts since the army launched an offensive last month to halt a Taliban advance toward the capital, Islamabad. More than 160,000 are staying in sweltering camps just south of the battle zone; the rest have been taken in by relatives.

The government said Thursday that foreign donors had already pledged $224 million to help the displaced. Pakistan, which is heavily dependent on foreign aid, has pledged $100 million of its own. It was unclear if those funds would count toward the total sought by the U.N.

Donors are rushing to help the displaced in part to protect the pro-Western government from the political fallout of a military operation begun under strong U.S. pressure.

The Obama administration has declared eliminating militant havens in Pakistan vital to its goals of defeating al-Qaida and winning the war in Afghanistan.

But an army failure or a botched relief effort in Swat would further undermine Pakistani enthusiasm for tough military action inside its own borders.

“There is an urgent need for a joint and comprehensive response to this issue by all those who are committed to fighting terrorism,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said at a donors’ conference on Thursday. “Without peace there can be no sustainable development and without development the establishment of enduring peace is impossible.”

The army claims it has killed more than 1,000 militants and won back some territory in the Swat region, which was popular with holiday makers before the Taliban took over, enforcing a hardline brand of Islamic law and beheading opponents.

But it faces stiff resistance from thousands more fighters and has ventured no prediction of when the Taliban will be defeated. Some refugees have accused the military of killing civilians with indiscriminate shelling.

On Thursday, the army said five soldiers and an unspecified number of Taliban were killed in battles in several parts of the valley during the previous 24 hours. Seven militants were captured, a military statement said.

In another part of the border region, a suicide car bomber attacked a paramilitary fort in the town of Jandola, killing four soldiers and four civilians, intelligence officials said.

Jandola lies on the edge of South Waziristan, a tribal region where U.S. aircraft have mounted a string of missile attacks over the past year.

American officials say the tribal belt is the most likely hiding place of fugitive al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. (AP)