Aid for Afghan refugees will cost £300m - Annan

The UN will need more than $500m (£339m) to save refugees if the US attacks Afghanistan, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said.

Aid may have to be dropped from aeroplanes, Annan said, since Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban has forced out foreign aid workers. He said as much as 1,500 tons of stockpiled food had disappeared since the aid workers left.

UN agencies will need $584m (£396m) in all for the refugees, Mr Annan said.

Drought and years of civil war have already forced some five million Afghans to flee their homes, and officials estimate the number could rise to $7.5m - about the population of Switzerland.

Since the September 11 US terrorist attacks, all UN foreign workers have left Afghanistan.

The Taliban have cracked down on the remaining Afghan employees, barring them from using their computers, communication equipment and UN vehicles.

UN workers only have access to parts of the north controlled by the Northern Alliance of Afghan opposition groups fighting the Taliban, Mr Annan said.

‘‘For many other parts of the country, we do not have access or security for our staff. If it is deemed to be technically feasible, we may have to consider airdrops.’’

The cost of caring for refugees includes $275m (£186.4m) for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and $188m (£127.4m) for food programmes.

The rest would be used to provide health care, water, transportation and security, Mr Annan said.

UN officials met yesterday in Berlin with government representatives from 14 Western donor countries and Russia as well as aid organisations in an emergency session called by Germany to rally the humanitarian response.

UN Undersecretary-General Kenzo Oshima, who attended the meeting, called for donations and warned that ‘‘a humanitarian crisis of tremendous proportions is in the making’’.

His call for donations was today echoed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said military cooperation must be matched by international humanitarian efforts in the drive to punish terrorists.

‘‘Just as we have built a political and military coalition following the events in America, now we have also to build a humanitarian coalition to deal with humanitarian crisis in that region,’’ he told reporters in London.

Greece said it will give £1m (£678,000) toward the cause, and foreign minister George Papandreou said his country would be willing to set up camps to receive some refugees.

Mr Annan spoke to reporters after a meeting with the UN Security Council to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

Security Council president Jean-David Levitte of France said the 15-member council blamed the Taliban for the latest humanitarian crisis because of its hostility toward aid agencies and the international community.

‘‘The tragedy of the Afghan people has deep roots - 20 years of war, three years of drought - but the fast deterioration of the situation today is basically the result of decisions taken by the Taliban,’’ he said.