Tajikistan - DHA: 28.Jul-10.Aug.97
Tajikistan - DHA: 28.Jul-10.Aug.97
UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS
TAJIKISTAN
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION REPORT
Period covered: 28 July-10 August 1997 No. 97/0325
HIGHLIGHTS
Fighting between rival governmental groups erupted in the outskirts of
Dushanbe. Military activity also reported on the southern and western
access routes between various governmental factions.
Majority of refugees returning over the period headed towards Vakhsh and
Bokhtar, two districts of the southern region of Khatlon.
Inter-agency mission visited transit centre at Nijny Pianj to assess
water, health and sanitation conditions and recommended increased
monitoring in use of medicines, water chlorination and hygiene education
Ministry of Health and WHO officials visited Faizabad area and reported
alarming number of typhoid cases in several villages. Number of typhoid
cases admitted to Dushanbe hospitals so far in 1997 now totals 13,770.
Visiting team from the Centre for Disease Control, in follow-up to April
1997 mission, examine water supply situation in Dushanbe.
OVERALL SITUATION
There were generally positive signs at the end of July and the first days
of August. Long-standing obstacles were removed when agreement was reached
between the government and UTO about the site for the 460 UTO fighters to
be deployed in Dushanbe prior to the convening of the CNR, and the
location of the office of the CNR in Dushanbe. A parliamentary session was
convened on 1 August and the amnesty law was passed with overwhelming
majority. UNMOT re-deployed its military observers to team sites in Garm,
Khorog, Kalaikhum and Kurgan Teppe and the numbers of refugees returning
from northern Afghanistan gradually increased. But a sudden and dramatic
deterioration in security, first in Dushanbe starting on 7 August and then
subsequently in and around the Fakhrobad Pass, some 15 km south of
Dushanbe and in towns about 30 km west of Dushanbe (Gissar, Shar-i-Nau and
Turzonzade) soon overshadowed all other events.
Reports of abductions of Tajik citizens, evidence of military activity in
the southern part of the country and a marked increase in seemingly
independent armed groups in and around Dushanbe signaled further break
down in law and order.
Humanitarian activities, however, were not specifically impacted by the
above over the period and food distribution and other programme activities
continued. Efforts also continued at the central inter-agency level to
finalise a document "International Support to Peace and Reconciliation in
Tajikistan" for presentation to the international community in the autumn.
The document, which aims to alert the international community to the
specific needs of the peace process, comprises four main themes: i)
Reconciliation and Democratisation; ii) Repatriation and Reintegration of
Refugees and IDPs; iii) Rehabilitation and Development; and iv)
Demobilisation and Reintegration of ex-Combatants and Reform of Power
Structure.
Food Aid and Logistics
The Federation of the Red Cross, with the Tajik Red Crescent Society,
opened three new soup kitchens end July in west Tajikistan serving over
5,158 beneficiaries, mostly the vulnerable elderly. Other groups selected
by the community as needy, such as street children and the disabled, are
also being targeted. IFRC also reported that it completed its food and
other relief item distributions to flood victims in Aini and Penjikent.
Agriculture
Mercy Corps International reports that, following unavoidable delays, it
finally received a shipment of vegetable (3,550 kg) and flower (722 kg)
seeds which have now been distributed to local NGO partners, institutions,
the Botanical Gardens and other international partners as follows:
- 500 kg of vegetable seeds to the Invalid Rehabilitation Centre
Dilsuz", an NGO based in Leninsky.
- 500 kg of vegetable seeds to the Information Consulting Centre for
Farmers, an NGO based in Dushanbe.
- 400 kg of flower seeds to the Dushanbe Botanical Garden for testing
on special plots.
- 240 kg of flower seeds to MCI recipient institutions, USDA free food
distribution participants for planting around their grounds.
- 250 kg of vegetable seeds and 82 kg of flower seeds to SCF-UK for
distribution to two Khojand organisations, Women and Society and Parastor.
- 300 kg of seeds to SCF-UK to assist over 950 female-headed households
in Tajikabad and Oghaza villages of Vakhsh district.
- 500 kg of vegetable seeds to SC-US for distribution through a food for
work garden project in 10 schools in western Khatlon.
- 1,500 kg of vegetable seeds to be distributed to a number of
children's boarding schools throughout Tajikistan.
Shelter
In view of the outstanding housing reconstruction requirements and the
expected additional requirements for returning refugees, in May-June,
SC-US carried out a housing survey in Khatlon province, surveying 203
villages in seven districts, including Kurghan-Teppe. The data is still
being analysed but preliminary results, excluding the needs of recently
returned refugees, indicate that some 7,800 houses remain to be build in
Bohktar, Vakhsh, Kuibisev, Kolkhozobad, Kurgan-Teppe, Shartuz and
Kabodian. Of these, SC-US, through its recently signed TASIF contract,
will be able to reconstruct 2,000 houses over a two-year period, utilising
the TASIF funds to procure the material and cover administrative costs and
using food for work modalities (through USDA) to cover the labour
component of the project.
Health
The number of typhoid cases admitted to Dushanbe hospitals, despite the
significant decrease since April, seems to be slightly on the increase
again over the last weeks despite efforts to reach large segments of the
population through the countrywide public health campaign. WHO reports
that close to 100 patients have been admitted to hospital in the Faizabad
area with suspected typhoid. Sensitivity to drug resistancy is currently
being tested. The Kofarnighon and Leninsky area are also said to have
increased cases.
WHO's US$ 1 million-project for the control of malaria and typhoid in
Tajikistan started mid June and initially focused on the training of 60
doctors throughout the country in the control of typhoid. In addition to
training modules on diarrhoeal diseases, WHO has received 18 binocular
microscopes for diagnostic purposes, small quantities of gentamicin
injections and ciprofloxacin tablets for distribution through the Ministry
of Health.
Refugees: During weeks 31 and 32, a total of 1,437 Tajik refugees were
repatriated via Njany Pianj:
29 July: 155 (Kolkhozabad: 39, Kumsangir: 79, Vakhsh: 34, Pianj: 3)
31 July: 245 (Vakhsh: 245)
2 August: 251 (Vakhsh: 216, Kolkhozabad: 4, Kumsangir: 7, Jilikul:24)
5 August: 246 (Vakhsh -214, Kumsangir: 9, Bohktar: 19, Kurgan-Teppe 4)
7 August: 251 (Vakhsh: 93, Kolkhozabad: 1, Kumsangir: 2, Bokhtar: 107,
Kurgan Teppe: 14, Kuibisev: 9, Kofarnighon: 16, Dushanbe: 9)
9 August: 289 (Vakhsh: 10, Bokhtar: 222, Kumsangir: 23, Pianj: 15,
Shartuz: 18, Jilikul: 1)
This report is available on the internet through ReliefWeb:
http://www.reliefweb.int
United Nations Office - Dunshanbe
Mr. Peter Simkin / Ms. Sarah Longford
Tel.: (0073772) 21 06 79
Fax: (0073772) 51 00 84
E-Mail: dha @ taj.freenet.kiev.un:
Inter-Agency Support Branch (IASB) - Geneva
Mr. David Bassiouni - Chief
Mr. Arjun Katoch
Tel.: (41 22) 788.1401
Fax: (41 22) 788.6386
Registry E-Mail:
Rosemary.Addo-Yirenkyi@dha.unicc.org
Complex Emergency Division (CED) - New York
Mr David Chikvaidze
Tel.: (1 212) 963.9665
Fax: (1 212) 963.1388
E-Mail: chikvaidze@un.org
Press to contact (DHA-Geneva)
Ms. Madeleine Moulin-Acevedo
Tel.: (41 22) 917.2856
Fax: (41 22) 917.0023
Telex: 414242 DHA CH
E-Mail: Moulin-Acevedo@dha.unicc.org
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