Monsoon threatens displaced, says UN

ISLAMABAD (Reuters/AFP) - The looming arrival of monsoon rains threatens to bring more misery to the nearly
2 million people displaced by the governments battle with militants in the northwest, UN officials said on
Thursday.
Some 270,000 families have fled their homes since the army began an offensive against Taliban militants in
their Swat valley bastion in late April, most of them living with family or friends in host communities, according
to the United Nations.
The annual monsoon, which could be stronger than normal this year, might complicate an already challenging
situation there and in camps where the remaining 13 percent of internally displaced people (IDPs) are living,
said Martin Mogwanja, humanitarian coordinator for the United Nations in Pakistan.
The United Nations is working on plans to deal with the possibilities of an accelerated spread of disease and
disruptions to the distribution of supplies as a result of the rains, Mogwanja said.
But we will also need possibly additional resources. There maybe have to be some camps or parts of camps
that will have to be moved, he said, since most lie in flood-prone parts of North West Frontier Province.
One acute threat is that if water supplies are contaminated diarrhoea - already the biggest health problem in the
camps - could become even more severe, said Eric Laroche, Assistant Director General of Health Action in
Crises with the World Health Organisation.
Also, it may lead to a lot of epidemics, and that is a major concern for us, Laroche said.
Most of political parties and members of the public support the recent offensive, but the government risks seeing
that backing evaporate if the displaced are seen to be suffering unduly.
Any additional difficulties caused by the monsoon would put pressure on a humanitarian operation that is already
struggling to find funding. The UN has received $193m in response to a $543 million aid appeal it launched in
May in a bid to avert a long-term humanitarian crisis, Mogwanja said.
The difficulties of funding are real, and in the next four to five weeks to come, we need to have significant
additional funding, he said, noting that there was only enough money for food through to the end of this month.
Of the $10 million needed for essential drugs through to the end of the year, only $2 million is available, Laroche
said.
The army says it is near the end of its offensive in Swat and utilities and communications are being restored.
The government is expected to announce the beginning of a phased return in coming days.
Helping people go home will increase the bill for the relief effort, Mogwanja said.
The United Nations has recently sent a team to assess the situation in Buner district, near Swat, and it is working
on its strategy for assisting the displaced on their return, Mogwanja said.
That will need additional resources for transport and for assisting with the immediate settlement needs in the
areas of return, he said.
WHO country representative Khalif Bile Mohamud said they had so far confirmed that 178 civilians were killed
and 2,200 others wounded in the conflict zone during military operations.
He stressed that those were early findings based on hospital figures.
Pakistan says it has done all it can to avoid civilian casualties, but people fleeing the conflict zone have reported
indiscriminate bombing in some areas and incidents of the military firing on civilians.
Mogwanja stressed that before people begin returning to Swat - which the army says is almost cleared of
militants - the government must make sure that they will be safe and that electricity and normal health services
are restored.