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![]() MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AFP) Nov 24, 2005 Hollywood stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrived in quake-hit Pakistan Thursday as the UN refugee agency chief urged the world Thursday to help prevent a further tragedy over the winter. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said it was time for international donors to repay the country for generously hosting millions of Afghan refugees over the past three decades. "Pakistan has been the most generous host country in the world for refugees and it's time for all of us to be very strongly committed towards helping the people who have suffered a lot in this worst disaster," Guterres told reporters in Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistani Kashmir. The October 8 quake killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and left 3.5 millon others homeless, but aid efforts have been hampered by a lack of cash and difficult mountain terrain. "What we are trying to do is to create conditions for people to be able to go over the winter without any tragedy," he added. "That's our commitment, that's our concern, that's what everybody together is working in order to achieve." Around three million Afghans still live in Pakistan. Many have lived there for years, having fled the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, while others came after a US-led military operation toppled the hardline Taliban regime in 2001. Backed by foreign military teams and agencies, the country is now struggling to get food and shelter to around the same number of people left without shelter by the devastating earthquake. Jolie -- the UN High Commissioner for Refugees goodwill ambassador since 2001 -- visited the 90-percent destroyed mountain town of Balakot in a "show of support for survivors of the disaster", the UNHCR said. The Oscar-winner and Tomb Raider star also took part in a helicopter airlift of food, blankets and tarpaulins to victims of the quake, the agency said in a statement. Pitt, with whom Jolie has been romantically linked, was also in Pakistan and accompanying her on some of her activities, witnesses said. The UNHCR refused to comment on Pitt's whereabouts. Their visit is aimed at raising awareness of the South Asian earthquake, which has attracted fewer donations than those after the Indian Ocean tsunami. The UNHCR's Guterres said the more than 5.8 billion dollars in aid pledged by donors at an international conference in Islamabad on Saturday must materialise soon before cold and hunger claim more lives. "The most important thing is that the aid pledged by the international community becomes a real thing as quickly as possible," he said. The UNHCR chief also met the Pakistani Kashmir premier Sikandar Hayat before attending a briefing by military officials at the UN compound in Muzaffarabad. Separately, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrived for a surprise visit to Pakistan Thursday, to show solidarity after the quake and to discuss terrorism and trade issues, officials said. Yudhoyono -- whose own country is still recovering from the December 2004 tsunami in which 131,000 Indonesians died -- was to hold talks with President Pervez Musharraf. All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
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