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Donkeys help U.N.

aid efforts in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: About 1,500 donkeys saved the day for thousands of displaced people in Afghanistan by delivering crucial aid ahead of heavy snows, a U.N. official said on Friday.

Michael Semple, acting U.N. coordinator for the Hazarajat region in central Afghanistan, said that but for the donkeys, much-needed food and winter supplies would not have reached the people in Hazarajat before heavy snows hit the region this week.

"It was a fairly awesome task," Semple, who coordinated the large-scale donkey operation, told a news conference. "People thought it was impossible."

The U.N. resorted to the donkeys when 36 truckloads of aid could were blocked by fighting and heavily mined access routes that could not be cleared on time.

About 5,000 people in one district in Samangan province, which is part of the Hazarajat region, faced starvation after being displaced by fighting between the Taliban and opposition forces, which started last summer.

The opposition, which controls most of Hazarajat, has been under siege by Taliban fighters.

Semple said when the United Nations realised in October that 150 tonnes of wheat, 1,000 tents and other aid could not be sent by truck, it started working on other options.

Semple said it took one month to shift about 6,000 donkey loads before heavy snows could make the routes impassable. The delivery was completed in the first week of January.

U.N. officials said donkeys had been used before, but never on such a large scale.

Semple said both the Taliban and the opposition cooperated with the United Nations.-Reuters