UN urges Pakistan for transparent aid distribution

The United Nations on Tuesday urged Pakistan to set up a credible mechanism to ensure that foreign aid was reaching millions of flood victims, many of whom are still without food and shelter. International aid stalled last week over fears of corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency, prompting the UN to pressure Pakistan to guarantee transparency.
"We think a credible oversight monitoring mechanism in the country will help to attract more funding resources for the monumental task that lies ahead," said Ajay Chhibber, assistant secretary general and regional director of the UN Development Programme for the Asia-Pacific. He said the world should do more for the Pakistani refugees.
"A lot needs to be done and there will be more appeals coming on September 17," he said. "If there is greater unrest in Pakistan, it will have much greater regional and global implications." Pakistan is a front-line ally in the West's efforts to battle the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
"This is a country that is a very large, very important country in the region, a very large, very important country in the globe, so that battle for the hearts and minds of people here is very important," Chibber said. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon would also host a major conference in New York on September 19 to urge more aid for the flood victims.
The UN has received 321 million dollars of the 460 million dollars it had sought, and aid workers said vital relief work is at stake. Hollywood celebrity Angelina Jolie arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday as a UN goodwill ambassador. UN spokeswoman Ishrat Rizvi said Jolie's visit was to "mobilise the international community to assist Pakistani flood victims." More than 18 million flood victims are in urgent need of food, shelter, clean water and medical care, the UN said.
Jolie, who has donated 100,000 dollars to Pakistani relief through the UN's High Commission for Refugees, would highlight the plight of flood survivors. "This is not just a humanitarian crisis, it is an economic and social catastrophe," Jolie said last week. Weeks of floods have devastated around 20 percent of the country, killed more than 1,700 people and destroyed crops, orchards and livestock. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, the floods destroyed 1.31 million standing crops and about 274,334 animals, excluding poultry, were lost.