Emergencies Ministry Sends Planeload Of Afghan Aid To Kyrghyzstan

As part of an international relief effort to deliver humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, the Russian Emergencies Ministry will late on Friday send a planeload of relief supplies from Moscow to Osh, Kyrghyzstan. Ministry sources told RIA Novosti that the flight will be the second one today. Alongside relief supplies, the plane is to carry to the site 5 Russian-made Niva cross-country vehicles, car repair kits, and other equipment for coordination and logistics support of the United Nations World Food Program's campaign to truck the aid from Osh to Afghanistan. An Emergencies Ministry team traveled to Osh on the previous flight. The international humanitarian operation is jointly administered by WFP, emergencies ministries of Russia, Kyrghyzstan, and Tajikistan, and the Department for International Development of the UK. Within the next two months, relief convoys put together by Russian, Kyrghyz, and Tajik emergencies ministries are due to set off for the Afghan cities of Ishkashim and Feyzabad. They are to deliver 9,000 metric tons of food there, mostly flour and vegetable oil. Further on, the shipments are intended to increase up to 16,000 tons. The effort will involve more than 300 motor vehicles, with each convoy consisting of about 30 trucks. The first convoy will head for Feyzabad from Osh on November 10, according to plans. The journey there and back is to take about 10 days. Russia is responsible for the coordination of deliveries. Several Emergencies Ministry teams are operating on the ground to this end.