From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Tue Nov 13 2001 - 10:09:20 EST
HUMANITARIAN CONVOY COVERS HALF THE DISTANCE TO FAIZABAD, AFGHANISTAN
OSH, Kyrgyzstan. Nov 12 (Interfax) - The first international
humanitarian aid convoy, carrying 150 tonnes of food from the UN Food
Program for Afghanistan, left Osh on Saturday and has covered half the
distance to Faizabad.
The 30 trucks reached Murgab, Tajikistan, at 5:00 p.m. Moscow time
on Sunday, sources in the Emergencies Ministry group in Kyrgyzstan told
Interfax. They rested and then headed for Ishkashim, a town on the
Tajik-Afghan border, at 5:00 a.m. Moscow time on Monday.
The trucks will cover more than 1,000 kilometers between Osh and
Faizabad, Afghanistan, via Ishkashim, Tajikistan, within five days. They
will cross mountain passes more than 4,000 meters above sea level.
9,000 tonnes of food will be supplied to Faizabad from Osh within
the first two months. Later on, the supplies will become larger.
Three hundred trucks have been chartered to deliver the aid. Two
humanitarian convoys will leave Osh daily, each of them made up of 30
trucks.
The Russian Ministry for Civil Defense and Emergencies has sent its
representatives to Osh and Ishkashim to accompany and guide the convoys.
The law-enforcement departments and emergency ministries of Russia,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are providing security for the convoys. The
Northern Alliance will guard the convoys in Afghanistan.
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