So sad that this went unnoticed: Afghan Officials Question Reports of Children Dying in Camps Mohammad Ibrahim standing amid children’s snow-covered graves at the Nasaji Bagrami camp. KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan government officials cast doubt Tuesday on whether more than 20 children who died in camps recently had perished from the cold. The officials were sharply critical of some of the camp residents, complaining that they had exaggerated their circumstances to attract more aid and that news accounts of the deaths were “one-sided.” Mohammad Daim Kakar, the director general of Afghanistan’s disaster assistance agency, confirmed that camp officials, parents and religious leaders in two of the camps in Kabul had reported the deaths of 21 children from the cold, as well as two elderly adults. The New York Times, quoting similar sources, found 22 cases of children under 5 who had died there as of last week, with a 23rd case reported on Sunday. Mr. Kakar said all the cases his agency had been told about concerned children who were reported to have died at night. “Is that reasonable that all of them would die at night?” he said. He was also suspicious because the deaths were not registered, and he said camp officials did not take his agency’s investigators to cemeteries to show them fresh graves. more via NYT
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So sad that this went unnoticed:

Afghan Officials Question Reports of Children Dying in Camps

Mohammad Ibrahim standing amid children’s snow-covered graves at the Nasaji Bagrami camp.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan government officials cast doubt Tuesday on whether more than 20 children who died in camps recently had perished from the cold.

The officials were sharply critical of some of the camp residents, complaining that they had exaggerated their circumstances to attract more aid and that news accounts of the deaths were “one-sided.”

Mohammad Daim Kakar, the director general of Afghanistan’s disaster assistance agency, confirmed that camp officials, parents and religious leaders in two of the camps in Kabul had reported the deaths of 21 children from the cold, as well as two elderly adults. The New York Times, quoting similar sources, found 22 cases of children under 5 who had died there as of last week, with a 23rd case reported on Sunday.

Mr. Kakar said all the cases his agency had been told about concerned children who were reported to have died at night. “Is that reasonable that all of them would die at night?” he said. He was also suspicious because the deaths were not registered, and he said camp officials did not take his agency’s investigators to cemeteries to show them fresh graves.

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8th Feb 2012
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