Tajikistan - OCHA: 15-Mar.14.Apr.98

OCHA
Tajikistan
Humanitarian Situation Report
15 March - 14 April 1998


HIGHLIGHTS
Armed clashes between governmental militia and UTO opposition fighters in
Kofarnihon on 24 March 1998 resulting in death, injuries and hostage
takings seriously endangered the peace process. The crisis was resolved
through intensive negotiations involving the Government of Tajikistan, the
United Tajik Opposition, the CNR, the Contact Group (including the OSCE)
and UNMOT on 6 April 1998.

Tajikistan was admitted to the Inter-State Council of Central Asian States,
a regional economic body, on 26 March 1998 joining Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Uzbekistan.

The International Monetary Fund approved a second installment of a 10
million USD for a period of ten years to assist Tajikistan to overcome the
consequences of the conflict and in support of the government's programme
for 1998.

OVERALL SITUATION
The general security situation deteriorated in the country over the recent
period. On 24 March 1998 six government militiamen were killed and another
six wounded by a group of armed men headed by commander Namoz (UTO) in the
Kofarnihon area 20 miles east of Dushanbe. According to Tajik sources
tensions between opposition bands and governmental forces were linked to
the control over the "melkombinat" the largest flour mill in the area. The
Ministry of Interior's Special Unit was sent in the region resulting in the
control of various villages by the two warring groups, displacement of the
population fleeing the clash zone by foot and an unspecified number of
deaths and injured. Earlier incidents such as the 17 March 1998 attack on a
militia post in Faizabad by a group of armed men (allegedly UTO) also left
behind several killed and injured. A blast in the centre of Dushanbe in a
discotheque frequented by the youth on 24 March 1998 resulting in the death
of one and a UTO attack on a MOD battalion in Romit, the killing of four
students (from Tajikabad) in Dushanbe by unidentified men are examples of
the tensions in the cohabitation between dissatisfied groups loyal to one
of the two sides and the difficulties in imposing law and order. According
to UNMOT on 10 April 230 UTO fighters were registered by the CNR military
sub-commission under UNMOT monitoring at an assembly site in the Romit
valley. They were transported from Turkobod and according to the CNR "about
40 percent of the opposition units are expected to be demobilised." As of
13 April 1998 a total of 3,655 fighters have been registered at the 17
assembly sites scattered in the Qarateguine valley, Gorno Badakhshan and
east of Dushanbe. This does not include the UTO battalion which was
integrated into the 25th battalion of the Ministry of Defence nor the 500
UTO fighters still in northern Afghanistan.

Country-wide

Health
Pharmaciens Sans Frontieres team continued monitoring of the Nurek,
Shahrtus, Yavan, Pandj, Bokhtar, Kabodian, Vaksh, Sarband, Djiklikul,
Bishkent and Kubishev Central District Hospitals (CDH). Also typhoid
monitoring took place in CDHs and SUBs where medicines were distributed in
Hissar, Leninsky, Faizabad, Shahrinaw, Kofarnihon and Varzob. PSF
distributed additional medicines in the Kofarnihon because of the conflict
(via the representatives of the CDHs since the area was off limits for the
international community) and in Faizabad (through the Ministry of Health).
A series of seminars on registration and storage of medicines were
conducted for physicians and middle level medical personnel in six areas of
the country covered by PSF. The fourth edition of the PSF guideline with
the description of medicines and special medical materials which are
distributed in the country has been published.

IFRC reports that there is no longer a typhoid epidemic in Dushanbe.
However the situation throughout the country is fragile as the communities
lack chlorine, an unidentified number of carriers are present among the
population. Concerns have also been raised as to the availability of funds,
typhoid treatment drugs  and lack of education over the use of them. PSF
have indicated that they have supplies to deal with an outbreak depending
on the scope.

Income Generation and Employment
Mercy Corps International's activities funded by the USDA Food for Progress
programme has three major components including Free Food Distribution,
Monetization, and Food for Work. 400 institutions throughout Tajikistan
received free food before the end of March. MCI has been able to monetize
150 MTs of vegetable oil allowing for funding of business, agriculture and
NGO activities. Three FFW projects carried out by MCI focus on providing
temporary employment to beneficiaries registered at employment centres in
the country. The drainage system in the Leninsky district and cleaning of
the irrigation system in Kolkhozabad are covered by the FFW projects.

Food
WFP received 4,259 MTs of food in February and delivered 3,438 MTs of food
commodities to its beneficiaries. An additional 1,320 MTs of food
commodities were distributed in the southern Tajikistan and 233 MTs in
GBAO. The country stock is estimated at 7,459 MTs of wheat flour, 433 MTs
of wheat grain, 676 MTs of sugar and 764 MTs of oil. The stock of wheat
grain is unusual for WFP but it is in repayment of the loan which had been
made as assistance to the needs made by the earthquake in Rustaq,
Afghanistan. Most of WFP's Food for Work schemes are currently being
implemented directly by the organisation itself. Subsequently WFP is
seeking partners, both international and local, for further expansion of
FFW activities.

Regions of Republican Subordination

Natural hazard
The  Hukumat of Gharm has informed the international community that as a
result of heavy rain and floods in March and April 1998, a large number of
houses have been damaged in the area. A total of 403 houses in the jamoats
of Kasnak, Jafer, Kalanak, Nawdi, Kalai-surkh, Shahrak-Gharm, Rahimzoda,
Hijbarak, and Hoit have been severely and 1,235 partially damaged. The
Hukumat is requesting assistance from the international aid agencies in the
country in reconstructing the houses.

Health
The Tajik NGO RCVC signed an agreement with the City Child Surgical
Hospital no. one of Dushanbe allowing for free treatment of the street
children monitored by  the centre. The centre which caters for 110 children
also supplies food received from WFP since July 1997.

MSF/Holland will be setting up a branch in Gharm city in the month of
April, following an assessment made on health facilities in the Karateguine
valley in January 1998. The project will consist of an expended programme
for immunization and a no-cost drug distribution to FAPs and SVAs.

Food
At the end of May 1998 the joint International Federation of the Red Cross
and the Red Crescent Societies of Tajikistan will no longer have any
funding for their successful Food Aid to the Elderly (and street children)
project through soup kitchens covering 6,000 beneficiaries in urban areas
and providing two hot meals per week all year to each beneficiary.
According to these organisations 80 percent of the 70,000 elderly in the
urban areas are vulnerable. The majority of the beneficiaries are Russian
speaking, of which an average of 20 to 30 percent are completely alone,
having been abandoned by their kin and lacking solidarity networks. The
average pension is equivalent from one to 3 USD, enough to buy three or
four loaves of bread per month. They have no other opportunities to provide
for their own food and no other source of income.

The International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent
Societies' ECHO-funded food distribution to the elderly covers 31,500
vulnerable elderly in Dushanbe and other urban areas as well as some
mountainous areas. Monitoring of the beneficiaries was terminated on 22
March 1998 in the sub-rayons. On 25 March 1998 wheat flour, beans, salt and
vegetable oil were distributed to 5,100 beneficiaries.

German Agro Action has received a request from the local hukumat of
Tavildara for food distribution in the area. The number of beneficiaries in
the area is estimated at 9,000. GAA has planned distribution of WFP food in
April. GAA operations were suspended in the Kofarnihon area due to the
armed clashes.

ADRA, in partnership with WFP distributed 339 MTs of wheat flour, sugar and
vegetable oil to a total number of 16,715 pensioners in Hissar. The area,
predominantly agricultural and considered as one of the wealthiest, has
received relatively little humanitarian assistance since 1993. However, the
pensioners were present at the distribution points in specific mountain
villages set up in collaboration with the "jamoats" despite a harsh winter.
ADRA will continue to work as an implementing partner in the Hissar rayon
with WFP and is studying possibilities for food production capacity related
Food for Work activities.

Gorno Badakhshon Autonomous Region (GBAO)

Food
The IFRC/Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan's programme funded by ECHO aims
at improving the living conditions of school children  in eight internats
and hospital patients occupying 2,050 beds in 32 hospitals in the GBAO (and
1,500 psychiatric patients in 16 institutions in Western Tajikistan) by
distributing 160 MTs of food. The procurement of food items and
preparations for distributions have been completed. Distribution will
commence at the end of April 1998.

The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Tajikistan delivered the
following food items in February 1998 to its beneficiaries: 30,83 MTs of
wheat flour, 538 MTs of milk powder and 62,36 MTs of lentils.

Khatlon Region

Food
Mission East distributed food to a total beneficiary list of 26,000 in
Kulab between December and January. Using a community based approach
(recommended by a recent ECHO mission) a pre and post distribution survey

was conducted to evaluate the work. The Danish Government has funded the
organisation for a Spring distribution of 420 MTs of food to 26,000
beneficiaries in the Kulab area. Each person will be receiving a 16.5 kg
food parcel including wheat flour, sugar, lentils, iodized salt and oil. It
is unclear if the same beneficiaries receiving food from WFP have been
targeted by Mission East. This underlines the need for common selection
criteria, to reach the most vulnerable and coordinate closely activities in
the same regions.

Rehabilitation and Income Generation
On 2 April 1998, a ceremony was held in Kulab to mark the completion of the
reconstruction of the city water supply system carried out by UNOPS through
the "Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Development Programme" of UNDP. The
project was largely funded by USAID. More than 30,000 citizens will be
receiving clean drinking water. Rehabilitation of the sewage canalization
and treatment system is programmed to begin shortly, eliminating main
causes of water-borne diseases such as typhoid in the area.

Save the Children Fund/UK is presently working in thirty different
villages in the Vakhsh district assisting vulnerable families (including
widows). 700 new beneficiaries have already been identified out of a group
of 1,400 already receiving livestock and agricultural seeds. Income
generating projects are on going in 10 schools allowing for extra salaries
for the teachers and the upkeep of the schools.

In March, 700 MTs of food were distributed by Save the Children /US for
its Seasonal Food for Work canal cleaning activities in Vose, Kurghan
Teppe, Shahrtus, Vaksh, Kubishev, Bokhtar, Kolkhozabad, Bishkent and
Kabodian.

Assistance to Returnees
The Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan with the support of the IFRC has been
distributing mattresses, blankets, and kitchen utensils (182,200 Tajik
Roubles) to returnees from Turkmenistan. The repatriation facilitated and
coordinated by UNHCR, IOM and the authorities has allowed for the return of
an average of 200 every two weeks by rail to Shahrtus, where they stay over
night at a transit centre 18 km outside the city before proceeding to their
own areas. The repatriation, which started on 15 January 1998 will stretch
over a period of 20 weeks, facilitating the return of a targeted 2,000
refugees. As of 13 April 1998, 669 individuals have returned to Tajikistan.
According to UNHCR the majority have returned to Dushanbe, Jilikul, Vaksh,
Bokhtar and Kurghan Teppe. Returnees staying over night in Dushanbe receive
food at the RCST Public canteens.

Other Issues and Announcements:
OCHA would like to express its best wishes to the people of Tajikistan for a
very happy Nowruz and a peaceful, prosperous and healthy new year.

Conferences and surveys
A Donor Meeting on Tajikistan was held in Geneva on 27 March 1998 and was
chaired by OCHA Geneva and attended by representatives of Canada, Denmark,
the European Commission, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands, Norway,
The Russian Federation, Sweden, The UK, the US as well as the major UN and
international organisations. The objective of the meeting was to present the
1998 Inter-Agency Consolidated Appeal for Tajikistan. The UN Resident
Coordinator and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General
highlighted the fact that the humanitarian and development situation in the
country was still critical and that humanitarian assistance was an essential
component of a programme aimed at establishing a minimum of social security
in support of peace and stability in the region.

A two-day Regional Conference on Migration Issues was held in Bishkek on 31
March and 1 April 1998. The meeting was organised by the Government of
Kyrgyzstan, the Central Asian Inter-State Council (Uzbekistan was absent),
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, The International Organisation for
Migration and the Bishkek Migration Management Centre. The question of Tajik
refugees and prospects for their repatriation was one of the main topics of
the meeting.

The Euro-Atlantic Conference on Development of Economic Partnership in
countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the development of the private
sector started its work on 31 March 1998 in Amsterdam. The Tajik delegation
included representatives from the President's office and the National Bank
of Tajikistan. Leading financial and international organisations such as the
World Bank, the International Agency for Trade and Development and the
European Bank of Reconstruction and Development also took part in the
Conference.

A one day seminar on "Rebuilding Khatlon Through Peace" was conducted by the
Khatlon Regional Hukumat with support from the OSCE on 14 April 1998. The
participants discussed key political, economic and social issues in the area
and the meeting included participants from the CNR.

Mission East has published "Survey report: Kulyab Food Distribution Winter
1997" which sets out the key findings and recommendations drawn from an
analysis of the organisation indicating the importance of empowering local
communities.

Health
A draft document prepared by the "Centre for Drug Registration and Quality
Assurance in Tajikistan," and "Rationalizing Pharmaceutical Policy" by the
AKF and WHO was presented to the international organisations providing
humanitarian aid in the country for their comments. Organisations such as
PSF, ICRC and IFRC have suggested that a clear distinction be made between
drugs imported for commercial sale and drugs brought in as humanitarian
assistance. The government of Tajikistan has demanded that
normative-technical documentation be produced for each drug item entering
the country. These organisations have stressed that it is virtually
impossible that the documents be provided for more than one hundred
different pharmaceutical items for registration especially if they are
procured through international supply agencies and that all essential drugs
should receive the benefit of quick registration as they are tested, used
and accepted internationally.

Agriculture
FAO reports that a harsh and long winter in Tajikistan has adversely
affected the agricultural situation in Spring. During the period
April-September 1998, the water levels are predicted to be 20 to 50 percent
higher than average levels risking floods, landslides and avalanches. As a
result some damage has already been inflicted on the irrigation systems
(comparable to 1969 and 1993). This may also negatively affect
transportation of farming inputs and other supplies and export of goods to
and from the mountainous areas (such as the Qarateguine valley) suffering
from bad road conditions. As a result in some areas Spring planting may be
delayed for a month according to the Ministry of Agriculture. However,
according to FAO it is still too soon to qualify the implications for
production. Non-irrigated farming has however profited from the moisture
available in the soil. According to an article published in Narodnaya Gazeta
of 6 February 1998 (reproduced in the FAO Bulletin 30 March 1998), the Gross
Agricultural Production of Tajikistan in all categories amounted to 242 to
344 million Tajik Roubles in 1997, despite serious shortcomings in terms of
inputs, transportation problems and machinery. This represents an increase
of 3.6 percent compared to the previous year. FAO in collaboration with the
Ministry of Agriculture has now established a database on going projects on
agriculture throughout the country. The international community has been
requested to complete the information on their activities (budgets, quantity
of input and etc.) and update it regularly. OCHA reports: OCHA has a
produced a paper on "Water and Sanitation in Tajikistan" as one of the many
neglected infrastructure problems faced by the country. Tajikistan faces a
widespread breakdown of water abstraction and distribution networks. Serious
shortages of essential chemicals, equipment and spare parts means that even
in the urban areas, people have no guarantee of receiving potable water
resulting in diseases such as typhoid fever and acute diarrheal diseases.
Despite activities by organisations such as UNOPS, GTZ, IFRC, UNICEF, and
NGOs with water and sanitation elements in their projects such as ACTED and
MERLIN, the need still remains for an overall master plan for the upkeep and
improvement of the system to supply potable water and not only emergency
interventions and creation of dependency. An OCHA report on "Non
Governmental Organisations in Tajikistan" gives a brief historical
background to the creation of non governmental organisations in the country
in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The paper also briefly analyses the
nature and structural problems of their activities, the shortcomings in the
current legislation and exposes to the international community the
possibilities of collaboration and empowerment of the nascent civil society
in Tajikistan. The paper also makes recommendations to the donor and
international community dealing with strengthening the local NGOs.

This report is available on the internet through RELIEFWEB:
http://www.reliefweb.int

United Nations Office - Dushanbe
Mr. Paolo Lembo - Resident Coordinator
Ms. Guissou Jeannot-Jahangiri
OCHA NGO Liaison Officer
Tel.: (0073772) 23 05 86
Tel./Fax: (0073772) 21 03 89
E-Mail: dha @ taj.freenet.kiev.ua

Inter-Agency Support Branch (IASB) - Geneva
Mr. David Bassiouni - Chief
Mr. Arjun Katoch
Tel.: (41 22) 788.1402
Fax: (41 22) 788.6386
Registry E-Mail: Abu.Conteh@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

Information Service
Ms. Thirhse Gastaut - Director
Tel.: (41 22) 917.2300
Fax: (41 22) 917.0030
E-Mail: tgastaut@unog.ch



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