UN: $450 million needed to help uprooted Pakistanis

Nearly a half-billion dollars in "urgent contributions" are needed, the United Nations said Friday to aid displaced Pakistanis whose numbers are nearing 2 million. More than $450 million is needed to meet the overall appeal for $543 million, the U.N. refugee agency said. It added that almost $86 million has been provided or committed, so far. Pakistan recently secured pledges from international donors for billions of dollars worth of aid to bolster the government of President Asif Ali Zardari. Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that Washington would rush an additional $110 million in humanitarian assistance to help the Pakistanis who have been forced to flee their home as the Pakistani military confronts Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan. Two American military cargo jets arrived at an airbase close to the Pakistani capital Wednesday, carrying air-conditioned tents and pre-packaged meals. Meanwhile, Britain pledged an additional £10 million Friday, for a total of £22 million ($35 million), to address the humanitarian situation in Pakistan. The refugee crisis could pose a bigger threat to stability in Pakistan than the war itself, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told CNN while touring a refugee camp in the nearby Swabi district last week. Only about 200,000 of the estimated 1.7 million Pakistanis displaced since May 2 are staying in camps, UNHCR said Friday. The rest are staying with families and friends or in schools and other communal buildings. The Pakistani government has been working with international aid agencies to establish camps for refugees, where tents, food, water and basic medical services are provided. But the scale and speed of the displacement -- said to be the worst since the Rwandan genocide in 1994 -- have overwhelmed aid workers, Guterres said. "The scale of the problem is such that all our resources combined cannot cope with it. And it's very important for this population not to feel abandoned," Guterres said. "Without massive support of the international community for the Pakistani people, this will become a very dramatic problem, and not only a humanitarian problem."