U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central Asia

Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 484 
Fax: +92-51-2211 450 
e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk


Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 3
period 20 - 26 April 2001


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: US predicts increase in humanitarian assistance
AFGHANISTAN: International team of narcotics experts visits Afghanistan
AFGHANISTAN: Action now could prevent humanitarian catastrophe
AFGHANISTAN: US donates $6.1 million for mine action
AFGHANISTAN: UN food agency predicts another poor harvest
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban demands sacking of UN human rights investigator
AFGHANISTAN: UNHCR chief to visit refugee camps
PAKISTAN: Pakistan, Iran hold talks in Islamabad

AFGHANISTAN: US predicts increase in humanitarian assistance

US Ambassador to Pakistan, William Milam, told IRIN in an interview on
Monday that preliminary reports showed the situation in Afghanistan was
deteriorating, prompting the first US humanitarian assessment team to
visit the country since 1998. "My sense was that things were perhaps
getting worse in Afghanistan and we ought to go look," he said. He hoped
the team's findings would enable the US government and other western
donors to provide further relief to the Afghan people. Although the
political conditions were not right for proposing a reconstruction fund,
Milam said that a UNDCP-led assessment of the effectiveness of the
Taliban's ban on poppy production could prompt some rural rehabilitation.

Milam said the UN Security Council sanctions (outlined in Resolutions 1267
and 1333) were an attempt by the international community to persuade the
Taliban to meet the requirements of international justice and norms of
international behaviour. He said the sanctions should not have any impact
on the peace process and were not intended to impede any humanitarian
effort. However, during his tenure he had not seen much sign of interest
in peace negotiations on the part of the Taliban. He added the impact of
the sanctions had been deliberately misrepresented by the Taliban
authorities and its supporters to create the misconception that they had
worsened humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan.

[For full IRIN interview see:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/afghanistan/20010423.phtml]


AFGHANISTAN: International team of narcotics experts visits Afghanistan

A United Nations International Drug Control Programme-led team of
narcotics experts, including representatives from the US and the UK, began
a mission to Afghanistan this week. The mission is to assess claims by the
ruling Taliban that the country's poppy production has been wiped out.
They will also look at ways of helping farmers who have been surviving on
opium cultivation to adapt to alternative crops.  United Nations
International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) official, Thomas
Zeindl-Cronin, told IRIN the team would tour the southern Afghan provinces
of Kandahar and Helmand, as well as the eastern Nangarhar province. "They
will assess the potential for a sustained reduction of opium cultivation
in Afghanistan. They will look at the needs of the farmers and what could
be done to prevent the resumption of poppy cultivation," he said.

US Ambassador to Pakistan William Milam said that if the poppy ban was
found to be effective, there would be movement by interested donor
governments to find ways to help farmers make the transition to
alternative crops. The inclusion in the team of four British nationals
will mark the first official visit by UK citizens to Afghanistan since US
missile strikes on alleged terrorist training camps in the country in
1998. The team also includes narcotics experts from Spain, Belgium and the
Netherlands.


AFGHANISTAN: Action now could prevent major catastrophe

An immediate response was needed by the international community if a major
humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan was to be avoided this summer, the
UN special coordinator for internal displacement, Dennis McNamara, told
IRIN on Tuesday. "We have a chance. We could put in investments now which
could prevent Afghanistan [from] sliding down a slope that it cannot be
pulled back from," said McNamara, who led a seven-member UN assessment
mission to Afghanistan this week. McNamara estimated that 700,000 Afghans
had been displaced since mid-2000, including up to 200,000 who had fled
their homes and crossed borders. He said the Afghan population lacked
basic services in all key sectors and were living in some of the worst
conditions he had seen. He said with 300 families pouring into the
northwestern province of Herat each day, Afghanistan had the highest
displacement movement currently in the world.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also warned of sharply deteriorating
conditions this summer in Afghanistan. In a report issued this week, Annan
noted that the imminent period of renewed Afghan fighting this summer
would coincide with the worsening effects of drought. Lack of available
seeds means that farmers have planted less. He said the worst period was
likely to be "the hungry season of June and July, which corresponds with
the period of greatest conflict".

[For full IRIN story see:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/afghanistan/20010424.phtml]


AFGHANISTAN: US donates $6.1 million for mine action

As part of the US government's ongoing humanitarian assistance programme
for Afghanistan, the US Ambassador to Pakistan, William Milam, on 20 April
presented the United Nations Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA)
with an assistance package worth US $6.1 million. The MAPA programme
manager, Dan Kelly, told IRIN: "From one donor this is a very significant
pledge. In total, we are looking at about US $6 million for one year,
which is about a quarter of the requirement for the whole programme." The
US package includes 83 vehicles and ambulances valued at US $3.3 million,
as well as a cash donation of US $2.8 million.

UN Deputy Coordinator for Afghanistan Antonio Donini praised MAPA's record
and said over the past 11 years the programme had succeeded in clearing
550 million square metres, destroying 1.6 million explosive devices and
training seven million civilians in mine awareness. However, a further 740
million square metres have yet to be cleared, and funding remains a
concern. Last year MAPA had to cut back due to funding shortfalls.

[For full IRIN story see:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/afghanistan/20010420b.phtml]


AFGHANISTAN: UN food agency predicts another poor harvest

Millions of Afghans could face starvation with another poor harvest
inevitable due to seed and water shortages, according to a survey carried
out by the World Food Programme (WFP). Speaking at a news conference in
the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Wednesday, WFP's regional manager, Mike
Sackett, told IRIN: "Many people in the [north-] western province of
Badghis were pinning their hopes on the spring rains, but the snowfall and
rainfall over the past year is less than in 1999 and 2000. They have
nothing left in their homes and are selling off livestock." The survey,
carried out in 24 provinces of Afghanistan early this year, revealed that
seed shortages and low precipitation have resulted in a third of the
country's farmers cultivating only half their land. Almost half of
Afghanistan is affected by the current drought and nearly three million
people are dependent on food aid. The drought has been most severe in the
central and northwestern provinces. The WFP survey also found that poppy
cultivation was continuing in some areas, despite the Taliban outlawing
the practice. Poppies had been replanted in the western province of Farah
and in some areas of Badghis.

[For full IRIN story see:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/afghanistan/20010425.phtml]


AFGHANISTAN: Taliban demands sacking of UN human rights investigator

Taliban authorities demanded the sacking of the UN special investigator on
human rights in Afghanistan after he accused hardline Islamic authorities
of massacring civilians, Reuters reported on Saturday. Taliban Foreign
Minister Wakil Ahmad Motawakkil issued the demand for the removal of the
UN special rapporteur, Kamal Hossain, in a message to UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan.

The angry reaction was prompted by a report by Hossain on massacres in the
Yakawlang district of central Bamiyan Province and northern Samangan
province early this year. A total of 73 women and children were said to
have been killed in Bamiyan. Muttawakil said the report to the UN Human
Rights Commission was based on information supplied to Hossain by Taliban
opposition groups in northeastern Afghanistan. The Taliban foreign
minister complained of "unfair allegations" of human rights abuses against
the Islamic fundamentalist movement.

AFGHANISTAN: UNHCR chief to visit refugee camps

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers announced on Tuesday that
he would visit Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. Speaking at a news
conference in Berlin, Lubbers called for a halt to the fighting in
Afghanistan to enable international organisations to better help those
forced from their homes. "Refugees are in a totally unacceptable
situation," Lubbers said, adding that UNHCR needed far better access to
millions of Afghan refugees in the region.  A UNHCR official in Islamabad
said that Lubbers would meet senior Taliban officials during his visit to
the main Afghan cities of Herat, Kandahar, and Kabul. He was also
scheduled to meet with ousted President Rabbani and officials of the
opposition Northern Alliance, in the northeastern province of Badakhshan.

PAKISTAN: Pakistan, Iran hold talks in Islamabad

A high-level Iranian delegation made a four-day official visit to Pakistan
this week. A statement was issued following a meeting between Pakistani
Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider and the Iranian national security
adviser, Hassan Rohani, in which the two countries agreed to heighten
security along their border. Both countries pledged to cooperate to combat
arms smuggling, drug trafficking and the movement of known criminals. The
Pakistan-Iran border is on a major smuggling route for Afghan heroin to
the West. The Iran-India gas pipeline project was also discussed during
the visit. The Pakistani newspaper, 'Dawn', reported the two countries had
agreed that a trans-Pakistan land route for the pipeline was the only
feasible option, despite Indian security concerns.

Islamabad, 26 April 2001


IRIN-Asia Phone:- +92-51-2211451 Ext 484 , Mobile +92-0300-8501-307, Fax
No:- +92-51-2211450 or 475 E-mail:-irinasia@irin.org.pk


[This item is delivered in the "asia-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or
to change your keywords, contact e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org or Web:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN . If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2000
 

distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International Disaster Information
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
                                          web: www.cidi.org
                                     listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Central Asia                       www.cidi.org/humanitarian/irin/casia