Tajikistan - DHA: 13-26.Oct.97

UN-DHA
TAJIKISTAN Humanitarian Situation Report
13-26 October 1997


HIGHLIGHTS
- Improved security situation around Sakhi camp allowed for resumption
of repatriation of Tajik refugees through Uzbekistan  after successful
quadripartite meeting in Termez on 20 October. 280 refugees from Sakhi
camp, near Mazar-I-Sharif, arrived in Shartuz during the weekend of
25-26 October.

- Progress on the political front with further exchange of Prisoners of
War (POWs) but security situation in Dushanbe and surrounding areas of
the capital remained tense.

- Gap in food relief pipeline to psychiatric institutions resolved
through inter-agency cooperation. Donors are called upon to confirm food
aid pledges for 1998.

- UN-Inter agency planning process for humanitarian programmes in 1998
commenced with a view to issuing a Consolidated Appeal outlining funding
requirements for 1998 by end of year.


OVERALL SITUATION
International organisations are being advised to continue exercising
tight security precautions as a result of continued random explosions in
shops and other public places in the centre of the capital, clashes
between various groups on both the east and west access routes of
Dushanbe, an attack by unidentified armed units on the President Guard
on 16 October, increased militia checkpoints, and other terrorist
incidents. Nonetheless humanitarian assistance activities continued
throughout the country more or less as normal over the period with the
exception of travel along the Dushanbe-Garm road which has been off
limits to UN and ICRC staff since June-July. The lack of free movement
along this road is seriously hampering the provision of medical and
other relief supplies to the Karategin Valley and Tavildara.

On a more positive note, on 10 October there was a formal inauguration
celebrating the completion of the reconstruction of the Dasht Sher
bridge near Tavildara on the M41 Dushanbe-Khorog road for which
substantial financial support was provided by the Aga Khan Foundation
(AKF). The opening of this bridge will once again allow civilian and
commercial traffic from Dushanbe to Gorno Badakshan. Also, the largest
exchange of prisoners of war took place on 19 and 20 October with the
release of 84 POWs by the United Tajik Opposition in Tavildara followed
by the release of 78 prisoners by the Government in Dushanbe.

The Updated UN Inter-Agency Donor Alert for urgent humanitarian needs
for Tajikistan is being finalized and  calls for USD 8.7 million, mostly
against WFPs food aid requirements,  to cover unmet needs until end 1997
and to ensure continuity of programmes into 1998. Meanwhile UN agencies
started discussions in Dushanbe about a joint strategy for humanitarian
programmes in 1998 and will expand its working group to include a NGO
and Government representative.


AGRICULTURE
>From 22 September to 10 October, the German Technical Assistance agency
(GTZ) and the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC) carried out
a review of the AKF-PRDP humanitarian assistance and Agricultural Reform
Programme (ARP) in Gorno Badakshan. During the period 1995-97, German
food aid contribution (cereal and non-cereal) accounted for
approximately USD 7.7 million (18 percent of delivered tonnage) and the
Swiss contribution approximately USD 1.4 million (5 percent) of the
total humanitarian assistance.

In order to ensure survival of a population nearly completely dependent
on external food resources, AKF-PRDP adopted a strategy based on the
principle of equal household distribution with the aim of meeting the
food deficit in terms of caloric requirements. Recently the -oblast- and
district government has agreed to establish a community based targeting.
While the review confirmed the appropriateness of the AKF-PRDP approach,
it recommended the development of a Nutrition Action Plan based on
supplementation with micro nutrients, development of linkages with AKF's
health programme, development of a diet-based approach through
diversified agricultural production and establishment of an
output-oriented monitoring system.

With regard to the ARP, which is aimed at increasing the agricultural
productivity after the privatization of land management, the review
mission deemed it an overwhelming success. The ARP has achieved a
dramatic and unprecedented increase in food production and its seed
propagation of agro-ecologically staple food varieties (wheat, potatoes,
vegetables etc.) has been highly successful in both quantitative and
qualitative terms (diversity and nutrient content).

An ACTED agronomist arrived in the country to carry out a review of the
food for work project in Khatlon, including WFPs land lease programme.
ACTED is planning to start new Food for Work (FFW) projects with UNDP
(through the Community Development Centres CDCs) and WFP over the next
months.


FOOD AID AND LOGISTICS
Although the mental health institutions in the North of Tajikistan
received food provisions from German Agro Action (GAA) for the autumn
months, those in Dushanbe and the southern part of the country faced a
gap in food supplies over the next weeks given the arrival of food
shipments for MCI and Mission Ost only in November. However, through a
joint WFP-Mercy Corps International (MCI) action, the pipeline has been
assured and Medecins sans Frontieres Holland (MSF-H), responsible for
coordinating overall aid to psychiatric institutions, has supplemented
the bulk food with vegetables. As a result of the coordination among
agencies, other items could be supplied to the institutions, for example
milk powder from the ICRC, medicines from Pharmaciens sans Frontieres
(PSF) and Relief International (RI), toys from Orphans Refugees and Aid
International (ORA) and clothes from the ICRC-Federation.

Mission Ost, funded by the Danish Government, reports that it will be
distributing 471 tons of flour, rice, sugar, oil and tinned beef to
vulnerable, food insecure families in the Kuliab area. Mission Ost is
currently in the process of identifying such families by engaging
communities at the machala level and empowering them to identify the
most vulnerable amongst them. Distribution is due to take place late
November early December.


HEALTH
MSF-H reports that it has started physical rehabilitation of three
mental institutes: in Leninski, in Lekhran (Isfara) and the Childs
Institute in Dushanbe. MSF-H is also implementing care programmes in
these institutions.

MERLIN reports that the number of malaria cases reported in Khatlon in
September increased to 5,695 compared with 4,892 in August. The
districts of Vaksh, Kurghan Teppe, Kuliab and Pianj have been the worst
affected. To date, three deaths caused by malaria have been reported in
Khatlon in 1997.

SHELTER
On 24 October, DHA and UNHCR  organised a shelter coordination meeting
with the participation of CARITAS, Mercy Corps International, Save the
Children (SF) US, Shelter Now International, IOM, OSCE and UNDP.
Although UNHCR previously provided shelter assistance to all groups -
returnees, IDPs and other, in 1997 UNHCR is focusing only on the recent
returnee caseload, i.e. the 6,600 who arrived over the summer and
approximately another 6,000 expected over the next months from Sakhi
camp. Focus is on immediate arrangements for the winter - provision of
plastic sheeting as an interim measure pending the production and supply
of roofing tiles and other construction material for building in spring
1998. The World Bank funding through SC-US is expected to clear up the
backlog of the old caseload (refugees who returned in 1995-1996, some of
whom are still living in temporary accommodation) and some IDPs,
totaling some 2,000 houses.

It was agreed that there was a need for a more comprehensive policy on
shelter reconstruction in Tajikistan and improved criteria for selection
of beneficiaries. A major constraint identified in the implementation of
any shelter programme was effective and cost-efficient procurement and
supply of cement. It was agreed that SC-US would be the lead agency in
compiling data on the overall situation and, together with a small
technical working group, conduct a quick assessment in Khatlon province
to identify the most vulnerable  people in need of urgent shelter.

CARITAS Switzerland, mainly supported through ECHO funding, has three
workshops in Kabodian, Khatlon, producing micro-concrete roofing tiles
and roofing refugees houses through 12 brigades (about 170 workers).
During the period 1994-September 1997 CARITAS has built some 560 houses,
each about 120 square metres, five schools, three hospitals and one
police station. In 1996, CARITAS started to build wooden doors and
windows for the houses and special toilets for hospitals and schools.


EDUCATION
On 16 October, the national NGO Refugee Children and Vulnerable Citizens
(RCVC) made a presentation of its project to assist -street children,-
i.e., those who work and beg in the streets of Dushanbe. The project,
started in June with the help of Avicen, a European NGO, RCVC and the
Cooperative of Veterans (CoV), a local NGO, has two main components, a
mobile car, from which social workers and a nurse provide counsel and
check up on street children (in places like markets, main shops and the
railway station), and a special centre which provides educational
programmes, sports and games and basic hygiene facilities. Currently,
the centre serves 130 children who are divided into two classes for
morning and afternoon sessions.


OTHER RELIEF ASSISTANCE
The Tajik Red Crescent Society, with funding from the Swedish Red
Cross-IFRC has continued with its used clothing and coal programme for
orphans, poor children, elderly people and large multi-children families
in west Tajikistan over the reporting period. Pre-winter distributions
started in Zarafshon region where 353 bales (or 14 MTs of clothes) were
distributed to beneficiaries, along with 65.5 MTs of coal briquettes for
heating of hospitals and schools in Aini and Old Matchat. Relief goods
were distributed in cooperation with the local Tajikistan Red Crescent
branches of Aini, Matchat and Penjikent.

Deliveries of coal and stoves, stove parts and insulation materials
(totaling 3,000 MTs) to schools, internats and hospitals in
Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) is continuing.


REFUGEES
During the reporting period, there were two repatriation movements, one
through Nijny Pianj on 16 October (48 refugees were repatriated) nearly
completing the operation through this crossing point, and one through
Termez, Uzbekistan to Shartuz (280 refugees were repatriated) on 25
October.

On 20 October, in view of the improvement in the security situation
around Sakhi camp and Mazar-I-Sharif, Tajik, Uzbek, Afghan and UNHCR
officials met in Termez to discuss the possibility of repatriating Tajik
refugees across the Amu Darya by barge, from the Afghan border town of
Hairaton to the Uzbek border town of Termez for onward rail transport to
Tajikistan. Refugees, with all their possessions, will be transported by
truck to Hairaton where their baggage is to be inspected by Uzbek, Tajik
and Afghan customs officials, then carried by barge to Termez port and,
after a medical check, loaded on a train for Shartuz.

It is planned that three groups of up to 500 refugees at a time will
return each week by the same route on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
and that the remaining refugees in Sakhi camp, between 5,000 and 7,000
people, will be repatriated by end of the year.


OTHER ISSUES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
A WFP Evaluation Mission, headed by WFP Romes Evaluation department and
including a socio-economist and a desk officer will arrive in Tajikistan
on 29 October for at least a two week period in order to review the
WFP's food aid programme. A meeting of the mission with all
organisations involved in food distribution is planned with the mission
on 31 October at 9am at the WFP office.

Several landmine incidents killing two civilians and injuring some
members of a government demining brigade have recently been reported in
the Shugno Valley (en route from Ciafark towards Sagirdasht).

WHO will hold a 5-day malaria seminar from 27 to 31 October with a
number of malaria experts and doctors in order to discuss treatment
protocols and a malaria control strategy for Tajikistan.


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