UNICEF
Humanitarian Relief in the Afghan Region
Number 3
19 November 2001


Headlines:  UNICEF recovery planning underway inside Afghanistan - Relief
trucks at Mazar accounted for - Preventable child deaths reported up in
Herat area, but more relief items on way...Two more barges cross from
Termez


1. Afghanistan's Recovery

UNICEF's Emergency Officer, who joined the inter-agency mission to
Faizabad on 15 November, initiated contacts with previous and potential
NGO partners in the region.  The meetings are part of UNICEF's broader
efforts to lay the groundwork for cooperation and coordination in the
areas of child and maternal health, basic education (for boys and girls)
and child protection.

The UNICEF office in Kabul is now operational following the installation
of replacement telecommunications equipment.  In addition to national
staff, two international staff are working from Kabul, and an increasing
number of internationals are entering the country.

2. Movement of Supplies

Mazar and North: All ten trucks in last week's UNICEF supply convoy to
Mazar have been accounted for, and nine of the ten commercial transport
drivers, whose whereabouts had also been unclear since the convoy's
arrival in Mazar on 10 November, have been located.  No details are yet
available on the cargo (200 metric tons of family tents, water pumps, and
accessories).

Further shipments to Mazar are being assembled.  Arrangements are in
progress to dispatch several tonnes of UNIMIX and high-protein biscuits to
the town (supporting supplemental feeding for malnourished children),
along with about 3,700 child sweaters.

Two more barges carrying UN relief supplies crossed from Termez,
Uzbekistan, into Afghanistan on Sunday 18 November.  The first carried 20
tonnes of UNICEF items including 3000 blankets, 192 School-in-a-Box kits,
159 recreation kits, and immunization supplies.

Herat and West: Truck convoys to Herat have been temporarily halted in
Doghrarun due the absence of Afghan officials at the border post.

At the Maslakh-3 IDP camp, some 7,400 blankets, 3,000 sweaters and 3,000
collapsible water tanks have been distributed for 3,700 families.  UNICEF
staff report that inside the camp 225 water points, 2210 latrines, 750
bathhouses, and 160 refuse bins have been set up and are in use.

Living conditions in Makaki and Mileh 46 IDP camps, located few kilometres
inside Afghanistan opposite Zabol in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan
province, have deteriorated with a reported increase in preventable child
death. Makaki reportedly hosts 6,000 IDPs with 3,000 additional IDPs
having settled just outside. The two camps are now under Northern Alliance
control.

Through the Iranian Red Crescent Society and MSF-France, UNICEF will
provide winter clothes for children and water supply equipment, including
several 10,000-litre community water tanks and family-size jerry cans to
Makaki and Mileh 46.

The UAE Government has offered a free airlift from Copenhagen to Mashad,
eastern Iran. This airlift will include 25 MT of therapeutic milk.

Farah and South: 40 hand-pumps have been dispatched to Rural
Rehabilitation Department at Farah to provide safe drinking water to
approximately 20,000 people in the Bala Bulock District.

Eastern region: Winter clothing donated by the German NGO Aktion Kleine
Prinze will be distributed in Afghanistan's Eastern Region by three NGOs
-- Afghan Relief Committee, Afghan Red Crescent, and Afghan German Help
Coordination Office.


distributed by
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Volunteers in Technical Assistance
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Central Asia                  www.cidi.org/humanitarian/hsr/centralasia