Tajikistan - DHA: 22.Sep-05.Oct.97
Tajikistan - DHA: 22.Sep-05.Oct.97
UN-DHA
Tajikistan
Humanitarian Situation Report
22 September - 5 October 1997
HIGHLIGHTS
- Preliminary results from an ECHO sponsored food needs assessment
indicate that 16.4 percent of Tajikistans total households are currently
food insecure. Recommendations for future programmes include targeting
households based on a community-managed system rather than categories of
individuals, as is the current practice.
- Increased fighting between Afghan groups around Mazar-I-Sharif,
Northern Afghanistan, in the first days of October caused Tajik refugees
in nearby Sakhi camp to start moving to Sherkhan Bandar and Kunduz for
repatriation to Nijny Pianj. On 4 October, 181 refugees were repatriated
and more refugees from Sakhi camp are expected to be repatriated in this
way over the next weeks.
- Total number of confirmed malaria cases reported in Khatlon province
in the first eight months of year reached 12,273, with highest incidence
in Vaksh, Kurghan Teppe and Bokhtar. Initial survey findings from
Bokhtar show that there is increasing incidence of malaria falciparum
which carries the highest mortality rate.
- Many of the 6,300 refugees who returned over the summer months from
Konduz may require additional relief assistance over the winter months.
Further assessment is required but priority requirements are sufficient
shelter and continued food aid.
- President of Tajikistan addressed the 52nd session of the UN General
Assembly in New York and highlighted the need for a comprehensive
strategy of humanitarian aid and post-conflict reconstruction of the
economy.
OVERALL SITUATION
Concern for the fate of some 7,300 Tajik refugees near Mazar-I-Sharif
heightened as fighting between Taleban and alliance forces in Northern
Afghanistan for the first time came close to Sakhi camp. A number of
refugees managed to move to Konduz by 3 October in order to escape the
fighting and more are reportedly continuing to make their own way across
difficult terrain in hired trucks to Sherkhan Bandar. UNHCR, in close
cooperation with the SRSG, the Chairman of the Commission for National
Reconciliation and its sub-commission on refugees, are doing their best
to create the necessary conditions to expedite the safe and early return
of these refugees to Tajikistan. An extraordinary meeting of the Contact
Group of guarantor states and organisations was convened on 2 October to
facilitate the early return of the remaining refugees. 181 refugees (40
families and 11 singles) from Sakhi camp crossed over on 4 October via
Nijny Pianj, the majority of which were headed for Shartuz and Kabodian.
In general, over the reporting period the security situation in and
around Dushanbe was tense with increased militia checkpoints, several
clashes between rival government factions in the outskirts of the
capital and a number of kidnapings of Tajik citizens and murders of
ethnic Russians reported. In the south, while reintegration of recently
returned refugees from Afghanistan has been fairly smooth, there have
been some reports of increased harassment of civilians by armed units
and the departure of some Uzbek families from the Kurghan Teppe area to
Uzbekistan.
Two main issues of concern surfaced at the regular inter-agency
coordination meeting in Kurgan Teppe on 2 October: the high incidence of
malaria in the Kurgan Teppe area and the lack of access to free
medicines, and the need for additional shelter assistance for returnees
whose houses are without walls or roofs. Organisations supplying
medicines to the various types of health facilities will share
distribution lists with all organisations so that there is increased
knowledge about where beneficiaries can go for free medicines. With
regard to shelter, UNHCR is working with SC-US, CARITAS and SNI to take
the necessary steps to ensure at least temporary shelter arrangements
until houses can be rebuilt with timber beams and micro-concrete roofing
tiles.
Agriculture
FAO organised and chaired an Agricultural Coordination Meeting (ACM) on
24 September attended by a wide range of UN Agencies, NGOs and other
actors including the Ministry of Agriculture. The 1997 cereal crop in
Tajikistan was discussed and the harvest is tentatively forecast at
600,000 MTs compared to 400,000 MTs last year. This is due to the
increasing amount of irrigated land diverted from cotton to wheat and
the increase in aggregate area sown on grain crops. Reflecting very
varied farming conditions, the production of winter wheat of farms
supplied with inputs ranges from 5 MTs per hectare on good irrigated
land to 0.9 MTs per hectare on salinated poor soils.
With the view of assisting the returnees from Afghanistan, FAO intends,
funding permitting, to supply agricultural inputs (hand tools, potato
and vegetable seeds and fertilizers) to returnee families for the 1998
spring planting season to improve their household security.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 29 October at 14.00 in the UNOPS
meeting room.
Food Aid and Logistics
WFP reports that it distributed 1,600 MTs of food over the last two
weeks and currently has 6,500 MTs of stocks in country. A WFP
evaluation mission (including a socio economist, a nutritionist, a
logistician and a desk officer) is expected in Tajikistan on a 2-week
mission to review WFPs programme on 27 October.
SC-US reports that it has now distributed 740 MTs of food for its school
feeding programme in Khatlon reaching some 230 schools.
The issue of household food security in Tajikistan has been under keen
debate over the reporting period, prompted by the release of the
preliminary results of a food vulnerability survey conducted by ECHO and
its partners (WFP, IFRC and GAA) in June this year. The main conclusions
of the survey, which collected data from 579 urban households and 619
rural households in randomly selected districts throughout the country
are:
- 16.4 percent of Tajikistans households are currently food-insecure
(i.e., without the capacity to maintain an adequate diet without food
aid),
- while current assistance is effectively reaching insecure households
in GBAO, only 38.8 percent of insecure households in Khatlon are
reported to be currently assisted, 31.1 percent in Leninabad and 27.2
percent in the rayons of the Republican Subordination (including
Dushanbe),
- the nutritional profile of the ration is deficient in most cases.
The main recommendations are to:
- target assistance at the district level,
- channel assistance through one partner by district,
- replace the category-based beneficiary system with a community-based
system,
- improve the nutritional profile by replacing of sugar with beans and
adding iodized salt,
- move from relief distribution into rehabilitation and reconstruction
projects.
Agencies and donors will continue to discuss the results over the next
weeks in an effort to come to a common position on the basic principles
of a phased food aid strategy in Tajikistan over the next three years.
Health
Malaria Statistics
Based on data collected from Sanitary Epidemiological Stations (SES) in
Khatlon, MERLIN reports that in the first eight months of the year,
9,543 confirmed cases of malaria were reported in Kurgan Teppe and
surroundings, and 2,730 in Kuliab area, bringing the total number of
cases in Khatlon to 12,273. Additional cases have also been reported in
the Karategin Valley by the Ministry of Health.
WHO Copenhagen high level mission
A two person team from WHO Copenhagen visited Dushanbe 30 September to 3
October in order to discuss various issues affecting WHOs malaria and
typhoid programme with the Ministry of Health. There have been
significant delays in the implementation of the project, but medical
supplies are expected to arrive in the near future and diagnostic and
clinical training programmes for malaria and typhoid will also be
arranged shortly.
The WHO team also discussed the problematic issue of registration of
drugs in Tajikistan with ECHO, health organisations and the Ministry of
Health, further documentation will now be provided by WHO Copenhagen in
an effort to clarify the procedures for humanitarian supplies according
to international standards.
Medical Supplies distributed in Karategin Valley
PSF reports that despite the security constraints in the Garm valley,
PSF distributed essential drugs to hospitals in Jirgital and Obigarm
early September, reaching these areas via Osh (Kyrghstan).
Medical kits distributed in Leninabad and Khatlon
The Federation of the Red Cross reports that distribution of medical
kits for 70 health facilities in Leninabad region and 25 health
facilities in the Rayons of Republican Subordination took place during
the last two weeks. A total of 245 kits were distributed.
Coordination
An NGO coordination meeting was held on 25 September at the CADA office.
Issues discussed included security and radios, identity cards, NGO
registration, country agreements and collaboration with the UN and Aid
Coordination Unit.
Further to the inter-agency coordination meeting in Kurghan Teppe on 2
October when agencies provided updates on their activities in the
province and issues of common concern were discussed, it was agreed that
a special meeting will be held on 16 October, at 10am in the WFP-Kurgan
Teppe office to discuss in more detail issues relating to shelter and
health-medical distributions in Khatlon.
Refugee Related Issues
During the period 17 July to 25 September 1997, a total of 6,381
refugees from the camps in Konduz, Northern Afghanistan were repatriated
by UNHCR via Nijny Pianj crossing point. The breakdown by destination is
as follows:
DISTRICT REPATRIATED 17 July - 25 September
Vaksh 2,005
Bokhtar 1,275
Kabodian 519
Kumsangir 513
Shaartuz 428
Pianj 387
Dushanbe 307
Kolkhozabad 305
Garm 256
Jillikul 112
Kurgan-Tyube 95
Tajikabad 51
Kalaikhum 38
Kuibishev 20
Hissar 16
Kofarnikhon 16
Farkhar 13
Ghazimalik 11
Yavan 6
Tavildara 5
Lenin 2
Komsomolabad 1
Total 6,381
Other Issues and Announcements
- Action Contre la Faim (ACF), a French NGO, visited Tajikistan over the
reporting period to assess overall humanitarian needs. The two-person
team visited Garm for four days.
- Deadline for contributions to the Information Bulletin is COB every
Friday.
This report is available on the internet through RELIEFWEB:
http://www.reliefweb.int
United Nations Office - Dunshanbe
Mr. Paolo Lembo - Resident Coordinator
Ms. Sarah Longford
Tel.: (0073772) 23 05 86 - Fax: (0073772) 21 03 89
E-Mail: dha@taj.freenet.kiev.ua
Inter-Agency Support Branch (IASB) - Geneva
Mr. David Bassiouni - Chief
Ms. Sylvia Ferazzi
Tel.: (41 22) 788.1402 - 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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