PAN, May 29, 2008

Children starve to death in Samangan

On return home, Noorullahs famished daughter also died of hunger, the provincial council head said, adding the helpless family had been consuming hay for the last one month.

Muhammad Barat

Two children, after eating grass for a month together with their parents due to lack of food, have died in the northern Samangan province, government and human rights officials said on Thursday.

A seven-year-old boy and his nine-year-old sister starved to death in the Zaidori village of Dara-i-Soufe Payan this week, acting head of the provincial council Haji Abdullah told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The Plight of Afghan Children ( http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/rawagallery.php?mghash=1bebc013f3ed319b2c389ba10946674d&mggal=2 )

Unable to find food, Noorullah, his spouse and children reportedly went to nearby mountains to pick grass - not for animals, but to eat it themselves. Abdullah quoted the anguished father as saying his son died in the mountains while eating grass.

On return home, Noorullahs famished daughter also died of hunger, the provincial council head said, adding the helpless family had been consuming hay for the last one month.

Saiful Rahman, administrative chief of Dara-i-Soufe Payan, confirmed the hunger-related deaths and said a delegation including representative of the Human Rights Commission had been dispatched to the area to assess the acute food problem.

Qazi Sayed Muhammad Sami, head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in the northern zone, disclosed Noorullah had sent another six children to relatives owing to a total absence of food.

The government should pay urgent attention to overcoming the problem that could lead to a humanitarian disaster, Sami warned.

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