Tagged: Conflict & Emergencies
The IMF will issue a $450 million loan to Pakistan which risks plunging Pakistan into debt that it can ill-afford. Oxfam is calling for the cancellation of all multilateral and bilateral loans to Pakistan, and for debt relief to be given on emergency assistance from the IMF.
World champion boxer Amir Khan is in Pakistan where he met families made homeless by the devastating floods and took part in an Oxfam distribution of aid.
Oxfam deeply regrets the deaths of two of its Afghan staff members and a community volunteer and the injuries to one staff member and one community volunteer. They were deeply committed to improving the lives of other Afghans and our thoughts are with their families at this time.
One month after the floods first reached disastrous levels in Pakistan, the waters continue to rise. Many areas are still cut off and millions of people are in desperate need of immediate help. Reconstruction efforts must begin immediately to avoid devastating long-term consequences for the country.
Kristalina Georgieva, European Humanitarian Commissioner, today visited Pakistan to see the effect of the devastating floods on the country. More than 17 million people are now affected by the floods – in an area that now constitutes the world's largest freshwater lake.
Floods and heavy rains across Niger have destroyed crops less than two months before harvest, compounding the country's existing food crisis. Flooding has killed at least six people, left thousands homeless, ruined crops and forced hungry families to crisis point.
As the world's leaders gathered for a special session of the General Assembly in New York, Oxfam urged the international community to avoid grand gestures and take immediate action to get aid to those affected by the Pakistani floods.
The UK government has made a good start in committing more than £30m ($38m). But it can and should do much more to help the people of Pakistan. This is a disaster on an unprecedented scale which needs an equally robust response.
The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) urges the international community to play its part in meeting the immediate needs of millions of Pakistanis, and warns that without long-term funding, rebuilding this devastated country will prove virtually impossible.
The World Food Program (WFP) in Niger, the country worst-hit by the West Africa food crisis, has been forced to make an "agonizing" decision to abandon plans to provide emergency food to families with children over the age of two because of a huge funding shortfall.

