Japan to cover 20 per cent of UN appeal for aid to Afghanistan

The Government of Japan today announced that it would contribute 20 per cent of a half-a-billion-dollar appeal for humanitarian aid to Afghanistan launched by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan last Thursday.

That appeal amounted to some $584 million to cover the needs of some 7.5 million Afghans.

According to a UN spokesman, the UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed gratitude to the Japanese Government for its contribution.