UN emergency relief coordinator launches humanitarian action plan for Afghanistan

John Holmes, the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, today launched the Humanitarian Action Plan to help vulnerable people in Afghanistan in 2009. Following the launch, he briefed journalists at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. He was accompanied by Nesar Popal, Advisor to the Presidency of Afghanistan, and Bo Asplund, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator. [...] Answering a question on whether the explosion of a bridge in the Khyber Pass would affect humanitarian routes and the expanded assistance plans, Mr. Holmes said insecurity was a huge problem, especially for the population, but for humanitarian organizations it was a problem in terms of access of delivery. There were large areas that were extremely difficult to access, in particular for international United Nations staff and NGOs, due to the security situation. NGOs in particular had suffered grievously from insecurity in 2008 - 28 NGO workers were killed, and 72 had been abducted. United Nations agencies had suffered less, but had nevertheless had workers killed, wounded and abducted. Operations within the country continued. The World Food Programme was still able to move food around the country, and had done an amazing job in pre-positioning food supplies before the winter made moving food difficult.

Malaysia conveys to MILF RP’s desire to resume talks

Acting promptly, Malaysia has conveyed to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) the desire of the Philippine government to immediately resume the collapsed Mindanao peace process. Mohagher Iqbal, chairman of the MILF peace panel, acknowledged the communication from Malaysia, the negotiation’s sole facilitator and host of meetings. Malaysia, however, did not set yet a date for the talks’ revival, he said. [...] Iqbal lauded the Japanese Government for its continuing assistance to the Mindanao peace process and the region’s development. [...] Japan will provide 7,500 metric tons of rice for the Mindanao evacuees through the World Food Programme (WFP) headed in the Philippines by country representative Stephen Anderson.

Afghanistan: Winter crisis averted in north?

Prompt distribution of food aid, improved coordination among aid agencies and a relatively mild winter have prevented mass displacements in the drought-stricken northern provinces of Afghanistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said. "This year there was, in general, much better coordination between relevant government bodies and UN agencies, particularly with WFP [UN World Food Programme] as a key player. The other factor that really matters is that people in the areas most affected by drought are not facing such a harsh winter as last year," Dusan Vukotic, an ICRC official in Kabul, told IRIN.

Five-pound note buys two souvenirs and a wide smile in Zimbabwe

It was, in every respect but one, a perfectly normal purchase — an inspection of the carved wood animals on sale at a Harare flea market, the selection of a cheetah and hippopotamus, and some good-natured haggling. What made it remarkable was that The Times paid with a British £5 note, the currency of the colonial power from which Zimbabwe gained independence 29 years ago and which Robert Mugabe constantly denounces. The stallholder was delighted. “The Zimbabwean dollar is useless,” she declared. [...] Zimbabwe's once-flourishing agricultural sector has collapsed so dramatically that the World Food Programme says that seven million Zimbabweans — three quarters of those who have not fled — are now completely dependent on UN food aid. That is the largest number anywhere, except Afghanistan and Ethiopia, and the largest, proportionally, in the world.