EU-commissaris geschokt door situatie Pakistaanse slachtoffers van oorlog en watersnood (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU is trying to channel its humanitarian aid to the most disadvantaged of Pakistan's flood victims: women, children and isolated communities, such as the Afghan refugees stuck in the northern region, commissioner Kristalina Georgieva said upon return from the Asian country.
Speaking about the "horrendous disaster" she witnessed in Pakistan, the top EU aid official said the toughest situation was for the 800,000 people isolated in the northern part of the country, who are hardly being reached by aid workers because of security concerns.
Ms Georgieva's visit included a stop-over in a northern village, where Afghan refugees who fled the war in the neighbouring country have now been struck by the natural disaster.
"It is overwhelming to see people hit twice - first by the conflict, pushed out of their houses, and then by the floods. It is really tough and because of security concers, it is more difficult to reach the people," she said during a press briefing in Brussels on Friday (27 August).
Humanitarian aid workers helping the refugees are getting EU support and Ms Georgieva went to the Afghan village precisely to underscore the need to "persevere to deal with these two disasters - floods and conflict."
The EU has deployed 18 experts on the ground to help co-ordinate relief efforts, trying to channel the money to the most disadvantaged groups. Particular attention needed to be given to households led by women, she said.
"In conservative societies, women don't have the same access to aid. The people I talked to were all men, the women were in tents," she explained. "If the money doesn't reach you, it doesn't really matter that the EU puts €230 million on the table."
As to security concerns for Western humanitarian aid workers, who could become targets for the Taliban insurgency, Ms Georgieva said she touched upon the issue in talks with the Pakistani government.
"We didn't discuss specifically what the government would do in terms of Taliban threats in the context of the flooding, but it is not a safe part of the country and the government is very aware that the floods create additional threats of chaos."
From her meetings with the Pakistani premier and the retired general in charge of the military relief operations, she said the government seemed very committed to helping the victims of the floods and preventing epidemics from spreading in the affected area of 160,000 square kilometers, a territory five times the size of Belgium.
Fighting the Taliban has however continued despite the floods.
According to Intelligence Online, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is currently in talks with the French government for a weapons deal worth hundreds millions of euro in helicopter and bomb-guidance equipment.