Moreover. appropriating these funds will also help our government to meet needs that it has consciously shortchanged during the last few months. As we have previously mentioned. the Carter administration has been forced to divert funds from other needs because of our failure to appropriate the $30 million. The two needs that have been most seriously shortchanged are those of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan and those ethnic Somalis displaced by continued fighting and drought in the Ogaden region of East Africa. In Pakistan there are now nearly 1 million refugees who have fled from Soviet aggression in Afghanistan. The first international appeal for assistance was made by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in January and totalled $55 million. That appeal was based on a projected population of 500.000 refugees. However. the number of refugees has grown steadily and there is every indication that they are digging in to stay. A new international appeal for assistance will be forthcoming shortly. and our ability to respond to that appeal depends upon passage of this amendment. In Somalia the situation. at least from a lifethreatening standpoint. may very well be more serious than in either Pakistan or Cambodia. There are at least 1.300.000 persons who have fled to Somalia. At the present time. the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is caring for 700.000 of these people in camps. and it has been estimated that 90 percent of all the refugees are women and children. Aggravating this tragic situation is a serious drought which has already caused widespread agricultural devastation and threatens to cause massive loss of life unless the international community responds generously to an outstanding appeal for $120 million. As in Pakistan. however. a major U.S. commitment to this program is dependent upon passage of this amendment.
Keywords matched
Refugees refugees