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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 5
4 - 10 May 2001


CONTENTS: 

AFGHANISTAN: Final verdict on poppy cultivation pending
AFGHANISTAN: One million face food shortfall
AFGHANISTAN: EU team reports on talks with Taliban
AFGHANISTAN: Envoy optimistic despite office closures 
AFGHANISTAN: At least 12 killed in Herat bomb blast  
AFGHANISTAN: Thirty Afghan children join Pavarotti in Rome
PAKISTAN: Thirteen Afghans die at Jalozai, UNHCR says
PAKISTAN: Stalemate continues after refugee chief departs
PAKISTAN: Deportation of Afghans continues
PAKISTAN: UN Human Rights Commission elects Pakistan as member
PAKISTAN: Women's representation on assemblies increased 
PAKISTAN: IOM director-general completes tour
TAJIKISTAN: Uzbeks notify Tajiks of new border mines
IRAN: Flash floods kill 32 in the northeast 

AFGHANISTAN: Final verdict on poppy cultivation pending

Bernard Frahi, head of the UN's Drug Control Programme for Afghanistan,
told IRIN on Thursday that the final conclusions of the recent mission to
assess the extent of the Taliban movement's ban on opium poppy cultivation
would be available in two weeks. He said the mission had visited five
provinces, including Helmand and Nangarhar, the two regions previously
responsible for the greater part of Afghanistan's poppy cultivation. Frahi
said that the team, which consisted of representatives from six countries,
found that there had been no poppy cultivation this year. He said it was
evident to the mission that this absence of poppy cultivation was due to
last year's ban by the Taliban authorities rather than the prolonged
drought.

AFGHANISTAN: One million face food shortfall

Afghanistan is facing levels of vulnerability on an unprecedented scale,
according to a report issued on Friday by the office of the United Nations
Coordinator for Afghanistan. The report revealed that there were already
signs of starvation in some parts of the country. It suggested that over a
million Afghans would face difficulty in getting enough food to stay alive
in the next two to four months.

Famine conditions were identified in several districts in the western
region, the northeast and in the central highlands. Severe malnutrition
among children and famine-related deaths were also recorded. The upcoming
resumption of fighting between the Taliban and opposition forces was
expected to increase the numbers of newly displaced and re-displace those
who had already left their homes, it said. The UN report concluded that
"while donors have increased funding, prospects for recovery remain dire
unless donors are prepared to rapidly meet the needs for short-term
emergency assistance". [For full IRIN story, go to:
http://www.pcpafg.org/Programme/drought/documents/Drought_and_Displacement_in_Afghanistan.shtml]

AFGHANISTAN: EU team reports on talks with Taliban

A European Union (EU) team visited the Taliban Islamic Movement's
stronghold of Kandahar last week in an attempt to urge the Taliban to
leave the warpath and "seriously engage in a process leading to peace".
However, the delegation concluded it was "not optimistic" for its efforts,
according to EU ambassador and Head of Delegation, Kurt Juul. 

The mission stressed during a meeting with Taliban foreign minister,
Mowlawi Wakil Ahmad Motawakkil, that when a durable peace effort was in
place, the EU would be ready to assist in the reconstruction of the
country. This was one of the messages which the EU team took to the
Taliban, following a request by the 15 member states and the European
Commission to present a common position, or EU policy, to both warring
parties. A delegation will also meet with the Northern Alliance, though a
date has yet to be set.

The delegation received an outright negative message from the Taliban to
the effect that it did not want to have anything to do with the UN
(political office), according to Swedish Ambassador Peter Teller,
representing the presidency of the EU. "We have built our common position
[on Afghanistan] around an effort by the UN, and that appears to be in
distress. How can you be optimistic when you go away with a message like
this?" Juul commented. [For full IRIN story, go to:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/afghanistan/20010507.phtml

AFGHANISTAN: UN envoy optimistic despite office closures

The top UN political official for Afghanistan expressed optimism on
Wednesday as regards the growing international realisation that a peace
settlement and reconstruction plan were essential for resolving the crisis
in Afghanistan. This was despite the Taliban's formal request this week
that the UN close its provincial political offices in the country, in what
appears to be direct retaliation for the recent threatened closure of the
Taliban office in the US. Francesc Vendrell, Personal Representative of UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said that following meetings with the
Taliban foreign minister, Mowlawi Wakil Ahmad Motawakkil, the offices
would be closed by 20 May with the exception of the Kabul office.

Vendrell said he did not expect his ability to visit Afghanistan to be
affected by the move. He told IRIN on Wednesday he was trying to make use
of the growing international support, which he called a "window of
opportunity". He intended to spend more time seeking "a greater
convergence of views among the countries that have an influence over the
situation in Afghanistan". 

Vendrell said a political settlement must be accompanied by a
reconstruction plan. "This needs to be available to the parties: first, to
entice them to reach a political agreement; second, to send a ray of hope
to the Afghan people, who feel abandoned and destitute; and, third, to
ensure that when there is a political settlement, this will be accompanied
by an economic revival and will make the political settlement more
durable," he said.
    
AFGHANISTAN: A dozen killed in Herat bomb blast

A powerful bomb exploded outside an ancient mosque in Herat, northwestern
Afghanistan on 4 May, killing at least 12 people, including an exiled
Iranian cleric, and injuring scores more, according to media reports.
Mowlawi Mohammad Musa, a Sunni Muslim cleric, was killed in the explosion,
along with another Iranian believed to have been the bomber, AP reported.
The Taliban's Radio Shariat accused Iran of being behind the bombing, but
the same report said Iran had denied any part in the incident. 

Immediately after the explosion, hundreds of people set fire to Shiite
mosques in Herat and marched on the Iranian consulate, destroying several
vehicles and part of the consulate, according to media reports. The
Taliban reportedly arrested 300 men in the aftermath of the violence. Most
of Afghanistan's 21 million people, including the majority of the Taliban,
are Sunni. Iran has been nervous about sending diplomats to Afghanistan
after several of its officials were killed following the Taliban takeover
of the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Relations between the two
countries have improved since but the Taliban continues to accuse Iran of
arming and financing their northern-based opponents. 

AFGHANISTAN: Thirty Afghan children join Pavarotti in Rome

Thirty Afghan children, all refugees aged between 8 and 12 years, left
Pakistan on Monday bound for Rome, where they were to participate in a
choir of "Pavarotti and Friends". The children were selected by a national
NGO, the Afghan Women's Council, and are on a mission to raise funds for
the future of war-affected Afghan children. They will be staying in a
village near Piacenza, northern Italy, for three weeks in preparation for
a concert with the Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti on 29 May. 

PAKISTAN: Thirteen Afghans die at Jalozai camp, UNHCR says

Thirteen Afghans, nine of them children, died from disease and lack of
shelter as temperatures soared in the Jalozai camp in Pakistan's
North-West Frontier Province [NWFP] towards the end of last week, a UNHCR
official told IRIN on Wednesday. Yusuf Hassan, a spokesman for UNHCR in
the capital, Islamabad, said the victims died from diarrhoea, dysentry and
suspected malaria. The children were aged between one month and eight
years. Aid workers maintain that if the current heat wave in the region
continues, more deaths can be expected. 

Despite a donation of 3,700 tents last week by Jemima Khan, British wife
of the international Pakistani cricketer turned politician, Imran Khan,
many of the 80,000 refugees at Jalozai still live under plastic sheeting.
They have no sanitation or water supplies, and children play among
overflowing latrines. Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) began distributing
oral rehydration salts to the Afghan refugees on Thursday. The relief
agency has 17 staff at the camp, with five doctors offering primary health
care. In January this year, the Pakistani government stopped UNHCR from
registering the refugees in Jalozai, thereby depriving them of official
assistance. 

PAKISTAN: Stalemate continues after refugee chief departs

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers left Pakistan
on Monday, expressing confidence that the Pakistan government would heed
his pleas to begin screening the 80,000 Afghan refugees at the Jalozai
camp. However, Pakistan on Tuesday turned down the request to register the
refugees and move them to a better site.

The standoff began in January when Pakistani regional authorities
suspended UNHCR's refugee verification process, effectively blocking the
transfer of the vulnerable away from Jalozai. Pakistan, already home to
some 2 million Afghan refugees, says screening can take place only if the
UN sets up camps inside Afghanistan to deal with the increasing numbers.
Lubbers rejected the call as "silly", and said it was simply not a
solution.

Instead, Lubbers outlined a new proposal - normally outside the remit of
UNHCR, which is to assist refugees - to also help those displaced within
Afghanistan. He also called on the government of Pakistan to stop the
forced deportations of Afghans deemed by the authorities to be economic
migrants.

During a visit to Afghanistan, Lubbers failed in an ambitious attempt to
persuade the Taliban to agree to a temporary ceasefire. However, he told
reporters that he had the support of Pakistan's Chief Executive, Pervez
Musharraf, on the need for an extended halt to hostilities. "As a
consequence of this visit, we will define our cooperation with Pakistan
and Iran. From here I can only pray." [For full IRIN story, go to:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/afghanistan/20010508.phtml]


PAKISTAN: Deportation of Afghans continues

Pakistan deported 81 Afghans living in the NWFP on Wednesday, an Interior
Ministry official told IRIN on Thursday. Qazi Afaq Hossain, Joint
Secretary in the Interior Ministry said: "The Afghans did not have any
documents. They are illegal immigrants, and that is why they were sent
back." He told IRIN that the Afghans were handed over to the authorities
of the Khyber Agency in Peshawar who escorted them to Torkhan, on the
border with Afghanistan. 

Since the closure of the border by authorities in January to stem the huge
influx of refugees, media reports have given regular accounts of forced
deportations. Hossain said: "From that day onwards the government of NWFP
has been detecting illegal immigrants. Whenever and wherever we find
illegal immigrants without documents we will deport them straight away."
Hossain said approximately 5,000 Afghans had been deported so far this
year. "We don't have enough food to feed our own people. How can we keep
these people without more international aid?" he questioned. 

PAKISTAN: UN Human Rights Commission elects Pakistan as member

Pakistan was elected last week by the United Nations Economic and Social
Council (ECOSOC) to serve a three-year term as a member of the
Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights, the major UN body working to
promote and protect human rights. The 14 new members of the 54-member body
were elected from five regional groupings. By secret ballot, the Council
elected Pakistan, Bahrain and the Republic of Korea from the Asian States,
while Iran and Saudi Arabia did not receive enough votes to qualify. From
the Eastern European States, Croatia and Armenia were elected, while
Azerbaijan and Latvia were not. In a surprise outcome, the United States
did not get a sufficient number of votes to be elected. Commenting on the
election results, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told journalists that "this is
the first time since the Commission's inception in 1947 that the United
States will not serve" on the panel. 

PAKISTAN: Women's representation on assemblies increased

The Pakistan government announced this week that it would reserve 33
percent of the seats in the national and provincial assemblies for women.
This follows a controversial move which has seen more than 12,000 women
elected as councillors in lower tiers of government - the Union Councils -
in four provinces of Pakistan. Federal Minister, Dr Attiya Inayatullah,
said the government had decided to increase women's representation by
allocating them 103 seats in the 207-member National Assembly. She said
the constitution would have to be amended to bring this increase into
force, according to media reports. 

Pakistan's chief executive, General Pervez Musharraf, seized power on 12
October, 1999 and has publicly pledged to hold national elections within
the next two years. The head of Pakistan's election commission, Kanwar
Dilshad, told IRIN last month: "The policy to hold the general elections
will be announced by Chief Executive Musharraf on 14 August, not before." 

PAKISTAN: IOM director-general completes tour

Director-General of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
Ambassador Brunson McKinley ended a seven-day visit to Pakistan and
Afghanistan on Thursday. He held talks with the Pakistani authorities as
well as representatives of donor agencies. The visit was in response to
the interest expressed by the government of Pakistan to facilitate the
return and reintegration of highly qualified Pakistani nationals who could
help with the country's development efforts. McKinley also addressed the
growing international concern over displaced people in Afghanistan.

TAJIKISTAN: Uzbeks notify Tajiks of new border mines

New stretches of the Uzbek-Tajik border were mined this week, with Uzbek
authorities adhering to international protocol for the first time by
giving official notification to Tajik authorities of the mining. This
comes after three more people were blown up by mines on the border on 28
April, the result of Uzbekistan's unilateral decision to indiscriminately
mine rural areas along the border with the two neighbouring republics of
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Aimed at hindering the movement of Islamic
militants in the area, it is Tajik and Kyrgyz civilians of these rural
border areas who suffer from Tashkent's latest security initiative.

The former head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in
Tajikistan, George Gunz, told IRIN: "Any government taking such steps must
inform the population of mine locations and types of mines." He said that
all international humanitarian norms were being violated so long as the
mine locations were not marked, posing a constant threat to the lives of
civilians living in border areas. [For full IRIN story, go to:  
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/tajikistan/20010507.phtml]

IRAN: Flash floods kill 32 in the northeast

The UN said 32 people were killed and 50 injured after severe rainstorms
caused flash flooding in northeastern Iran on Sunday. However, on Tuesday,
Hossain Jafari, programme officer for UNDP in the capital, Tehran, told
IRIN that the situation was "under control". The floods hit 12 villages in
northern parts of Khorasan Province, damaging 250 houses, destroying 4,000
hectares of land, and causing livestock losses of around 2,000. The
worst-hit village was Tazeh Qaleh near the border with Turkmenistan.

Jafari said that the Iranian Red Crescent Society and medical teams
reached the affected areas within hours. Blankets, food and medicine were
distributed, and Iran's disaster task force provided 250 tents for
sheltering people on dry land. He told IRIN that the water had now receded
and there was no danger of disease breaking out. [For full IRIN story, go
to:  
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/iran/20010508.phtml]

Islamabad, 10 May 2001


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