Actress Jolie urges long-term Pakistan aid

AMERICAN movie star Angelina Jolie met flood victims in northwestern Pakistan yesterday and appealed to the international community to provide aid needed to help the country recover from its worst natural disaster.

The flow of aid money has stalled in recent days, and officials expressed hope the two-day visit by Jolie – who serves as a “goodwill ambassador” for the UN’s refugee agency – will convince foreign countries and individuals to open their wallets.

The 35-year-old actress said she met with many people whose lives have been devastated by the floods, including mothers who lost their children and an elderly Pakistani couple who feared they would never be able to rebuild the home they lost.

“I am very moved by them and I hope that I am able to, today and tomorrow, be able to do something to help bring attention to the situation for all of the people in need in Pakistan,” Jolie told reporters after visiting a refugee camp in the Jalozai area.

“It’s extraordinarily complex situation,” Jolie told reporters.

“These are very, very long, extended situations that need our constant support for a very, very long time.”

She toured the area wearing a long black robe and a black headscarf adorned with a thin red stripe – the kind of conservative clothing worn by many Muslim women in Pakistan.

The floods began in the northwest at the end of July after extremely heavy monsoon rains and slowly surged south along the Indus River, swallowing up hundreds of villages and towns and killing more than 1,700 people.

Another 17 million have been affected by the floods, and many will need emergency assistance to survive.

The UN issued an appeal for $460 million (€740m) in emergency funds on August 11, but only $294m, or 64%, has been received so far, and donations have more or less dried up in recent days.

Ajay Chhibber, a UN assistant secretary general, said he hopes Jolie’s visit will have “a very big impact” on the inflow of aid money and will keep people focused on the crisis.

“We need more... well-known figures who can keep the spotlight and focus because people tend to forget internationally,” said Chhibber, who is also the UN development agency’s regional director for Asia.

The disaster has affected more than 18m and inflicted nearly $43 billion worth of damage to infrastructure and agriculture.