Refugees sent diet powder

Press, 18 October 1980, Page 23

Refugees sent diet powder

NZPA-Reuter Peshawar, Pakistan The Pakistan Government is paying hundreds of dollars a month to store unusable food and clothing sent as relief aid ( for Afghan refugees, a United Nations refugee official has said. About 16,0T0 tins of a wieght-reduction diet powder arrived recently from the United States, and an American firm sent. hundreds of disposable nappies and sanitary pads. The United! Nations refugee chief in Peshawar (Mr Robin Macalpine)

said: “These shipments are entirely inappropriate for refugees. It is costing the Pak i s ta n Government thousands of rupees a month to store and that money could be spent on sheltering and feeding the nearly one million refugees in the area. “Somebody has to get rid of it, which causes us more trouble.” The tins of slimming powder carried a warning that a doctor should be consulted first before use and it should not be used by children, elderly people, pregnant women,

and., nursing j mothers. These make up more than half of the 1.l million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The slimming. powder, nappies, and sanitary pads occupy most of a big warehouse in Peshawar, close to the Afghan frontier. Scattered in other warehouses across the town are stores of luxury food, including Danish cheese and truffles, sent in several planeloads by an Arab and a European government after the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan in December.

Mr Macalplne"- , said . scores of-. Wes. of ; ts ashed second-handeidth-ing'_ also cluttered ? -warehouses and used-up "funds which could be : better spent. ■ ’ ■ - Most of the ."Clothing consisted of ‘.skintight trousers and shorts, brassieres. corsets, mini-skirts, and high-heeled shoes. "“Quite naturally the Afghans will not wear th" clothing. It is inappropriate and insulting. It is only of value when they find dollar bills and pound notes in the pockets." he said.