In Afghanistan, thousands of people cry famine in the streets of Kabul
A Taliban fighter leads people who have just received their ration of food distributed by a Chinese humanitarian group, in Kabul, April 30, 2022. AP - Ebrahim Noroozi
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Afghanistan continues to sink into a serious economic and humanitarian crisis.
About 95% of the population does not have enough to eat.
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With our correspondent in Kabul,
Sonia Ghezali
Five days ago, a dozen independent UN experts called on the US government to release the foreign assets of the Afghan central bank, which amount to more than seven billion US dollars.
More than half of the population is threatened by famine after a harsh winter and a drought caused by global warming.
In Kabul, the number of people begging to survive has exploded.
Food distributions take place every day in the Afghan capital.
A queue has formed in front of a shed, a hundred men pushing empty wheelbarrows line up.
Inside, employees of a local NGO organizing a food distribution funded by the UN World Food Programme.
Jumakhan Mahram comes out of the warehouse, his wheelbarrow loaded.
“
I received 6 kg of beans, 5 liters of oil, 50 kg of flour.
I am very happy.
Without this help, we have nothing to eat, we remain on an empty stomach.
»
The employees try to close the doors and call everyone to go home, without success.
The tone rises, desperate hands cling to the arms of overwhelmed employees.
“
Yesterday there were 3,000 people.
There are more than 10,000 families registered in arrondissement number 10. But there are many more.
Many people are not registered even though they are very poor, without work, without money, without anything
”, he explains.
Dozens of angry women and men show off their tazkira, their identity document.
They do not have the necessary registration card to benefit from this distribution.
Some end up leaving the place, they will try their luck in front of the town's bakeries where hundreds of people gather every evening.
They hope that a charitable customer will give them a loaf or two.
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Listen again:
Afghanistan: with the arrival of the Taliban in power, businesses are collapsing
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