Pakistani Refugees Suffering in Camps

Shah Mohammed Bugti sits outside his makeshift home in Murid Bugti, about 260 kilometers (160 miles) east of the Baluchistan capital, Quetta in Pakistan Wednesday, Dec 27, 2006. Bugti says his nine-month-old son has died and his daughter may soon follow if humanitarian aid does not reach tens of thousands desperate tribesmen fleeing a civil conflict in Pakistan's tense southwest. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt) (Arshad Butt - AP)

MURID BUGTI, Pakistan -- Shah Mohammed Bugti says his 9-month-old son has died and his daughter may soon follow if humanitarian aid does not reach tens of thousands of desperate tribesmen who fled a civil conflict in Pakistan's tense southwest.

The 22-year-old Bugti and the others have been uprooted by fighting between government troops and ethnic Baluch rebels in the vast desert of Baluchistan province, the scene of long-running unrest over autonomy and control of royalties from its natural gas fields.

Speaking in a fetid, sprawling camp of huts and flimsy tents in a roadside field where dozens of barefoot and thin children scurry about in dusty lanes, Bugti said, "It seems that we have been living in hell for the past one year."

Tribal leaders say at least 76 people, most of them children, have died in the settlements the past three months from cold weather and malnutrition.

The conflict in Baluchistan, Pakistan's biggest and poorest province, is a largely forgotten one. Western nations are more concerned about Taliban militants believed to be staging attacks from border regions of Baluchistan into Afghanistan where NATO forces operate.

Pakistan's government wants to develop the resource-rich region but has alienated the local Baluch population by its use of military force, and there is growing evidence the fighting has had a grave impact on displaced civilians.

Bugti, who according to custom takes the name of his tribe, the Bugti, said his baby boy died of cold earlier this month. Now, his 1-year-old daughter is seriously ill for lack of food, medicine and proper shelter.

"It gets extremely cold at night," Bugti said. "We will all die without aid."

A survey by U.N. Children's Fund has counted 84,000 displaced people, including 26,000 women and 33,000 children, and recommended a $1 million emergency relief program. The government approved the plan last week, but only after months of stalling.

The survey, conducted in August, found 28 percent of the refugee children were suffering acute malnutrition and about 6 percent could die without immediate help.

Ronald Van Dijk, a senior UNICEF program officer, said last week it was likely some of those children had since died.

UNICEF plans to set up 57 feeding stations with local health workers in three districts of Baluchistan by next month, he said. Refugees will also get tents, sanitation and health care.