GENEVA, Nov 28: Aid workers have located a group of several thousand displaced people living in the open in sub-zero temperatures, with very little food, in northwest Afghanistan, the World Food Programme said on Tuesday.

“These people are thought to have fled fighting in Mazar-i-Sharif and walked for many weeks,” WFP spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume told journalists.

“Their conditions are said to be very bad — living and sleeping in the open, without shelter. They also have very little food,” she said.

Ms Berthiaume said the WFP no longer had access to victims of drought and conflict in Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz and was particularly concerned about the situation in Mazar. “It’s important that we have access to this city because its geographical location is of strategic value to aid deliveries,” she said. “It allows access to the centre and north of the country where thousands of people, who are victims of drought, need help,” she added.

The WFP said the displaced Afghans had been located in Badghis province.

It said the province — which has been hard hit by drought — had been severely affected by fighting and banditry and was a virtual no-go area for aid workers.

“About 300,000 people depend on WFP food supplies in the province and that’s not counting the new displaced people who we were told about today,” Ms Berthiaume said.—APP