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

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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 25
21 - 27 September 2001


CONTENTS:

CENTRAL ASIA: UN asks for $584 million for humanitarian crisis
AFGHANISTAN: Despite pleas, borders stay closed
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban urges people to return
AFGHANISTAN: Ruling regime isolated as countries cut ties
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban cuts communications and seizes UN food
AFGHANISTAN: Aid agencies preposition supplies
AFGHANISTAN: Trial of aid workers set to resume
PAKISTAN: Aid agencies braced for refugee influx
PAKISTAN: Authorities concerned of health threat in border areas
PAKISTAN: EU and bilateral assistance boost economy
IRAN: Preparations under way to assist new refugees
KYRGYZSTAN: Fears of refugee influx


CENTRAL ASIA: UN asks for $584 million for humanitarian crisis

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched a US $584 million
appeal on Thursday for emergency assistance to some 7.5 million people
within Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries over the next six months,
amid growing concern about the regional implications of the Afghan crisis.
Annan said there had been a 50 percent increase in the number of Afghans
relying on foreign aid for survival in the past few weeks, in what the UN
has described as "a humanitarian crisis of stunning proportions". The
international community must be prepared to deal with the future
dimensions of the emergency, including the provision of "much more
support" to neighbouring countries, he added.

Almost half the funds requested in the appeal, which covers emergency
assistance from October 2001 to March 2002, is sought by the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to cover an additional 1.5 million
people expected to flee Afghanistan to neighbouring countries, most of
them to Pakistan and Iran. Other populations covered in the appeal include
internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Afghanistan - expected to
double to over two million in the coming weeks - and another four million
Afghans who, while not displaced, will need assistance inside Afghanistan.

As part of regional preparedness, the UN this week announced the
appointment of a UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator, Mike Sackett, who
is currently the UN Coordinator for Afghanistan, based in Islamabad,
Pakistan. UN agencies have also stepped up the pre-positioning of food and
other supplies in neighbouring countries. On Monday, the heads of six UN
agencies called on the international community to take all measures to be
mindful of the principles of international humanitarian law protecting
Afghan civilians.

AFGHANISTAN: Despite pleas, borders stay closed

Although UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan this week added his voice to
pleas to Afghanistan's neighbours to give refuge to fleeing Afghan
civilians, the borders with Pakistan and Iran remained officially closed.
However, Pakistani authorities said Afghans with proper travel documents
were being allowed in, while those who managed to infiltrate illegally
would be provided with shelter. The authorities said the borders would
open only if there were hostilities against Afghanistan and "a
humanitarian crisis" ensued. Iranian officials, meanwhile, insist that
Afghan refugees should be helped in camps in their own country.

Earlier this week, relief and human rights NGOs warned that the tightening
of border controls and immigration policies by Afghanistan's neighbours
following the 11 September terrorist attacks had put the lives of
thousands of Afghan civilians at risk, in contravention of international
law. "Afghanistan's neighbours face real security concerns at this time,
but these countries have international obligations to meet their security
concerns by screening out armed elements so that borders remain open for
refugees," Rachael Reilly, Refugee Policy Director at the US-based Human
Rights Watch (HRW), stated in a press release.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban urges people to return

Afghanistan's Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, has urged Afghans who
have fled urban areas, including some 20,000 people reported to be massed
on Pakistan's borders with Afghanistan, to return to their homes. Media
sources reported on Thursday that Omar told them he believed the threat of
military strikes by the US had receded and that, if there was an attack,
civilians would be spared. Omar's remarks followed a statement by US
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier this week that there would be no
single coordinated assault on international terrorism. Other US officials
have said that strikes against Afghanistan are not "imminent".

Meanwhile, there have been constant calls by the UN, humanitarian agencies
and human rights groups on the US "to show restraint" and to protect
Afghan civilians from any military action. The US-based Refugees
International said in a statement on Monday: "Given the fragility of life
in Afghanistan, any military operation there is bound to hurt the general
public... The US should maintain the moral high ground and, in planning
any armed intervention, take steps to minimise the danger to people
already tottering on the edge of famine, and to repair humanitarian damage
as soon as possible."

Kofi Annan called for a universal coalition against terrorism to be built
through the UN in order to give legitimacy to what would be a long-term
struggle. Addressing the UN General Assembly, he said the response to the
US suicide attacks "must be one that strengthened international peace and
security by cementing ties among nations, rather than subjecting them to
new strains". [For more details, go to:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/sgsm7965.doc.htm]

AFGHANISTAN: Ruling regime isolated as countries cut ties

Saudi Arabia announced this week it was severing ties with Afghanistan's
ruling Taliban movement, a few days after the United Arab Emirates
announced that it had cut all diplomatic links. Pakistan, now the only
country affording recognition to the Taliban, said on Tuesday that it had
no intention of severing diplomatic ties, although it had withdrawn its
entire embassy staff from the capital, Kabul. Pakistan has also agreed to
lend support to the international coalition against terrorism, despite
close historical ties with the Taliban. A foreign ministry spokesman, Riaz
Mohammad Khan, told reporters that maintaining diplomatic ties with Kabul
was "a geographical compulsion" for Pakistan, and that an official channel
with the Taliban to enable communications between the international
community and the Taliban must be kept open.

Inside Afghanistan there have been increased reports that many Taliban
officials have fled cities, and that Taliban control of the country is
falling apart, with looting and armed robberies becoming commonplace. The
opposition Northern Alliance in Afghanistan is said to have mounted a new
offensive against the Taliban, and gained ground, despite the recent
murder of their leader, Ahmad Shah Mas'ud, who was killed earlier this
month by two suicide bombers posing as journalists. The Taliban drove
Mas'ud and his supporters out of Kabul in 1996, and until recently
controlled 95 percent of the country.

Supporters of the Taliban, meanwhile, set fire to cars and buildings in
the US embassy compound in Kabul - vacant since 1989 - on Tuesday. The
Taliban said the blaze was started during protests over possible military
attacks by the US. Witnesses told media that most of the demonstrators
were government officials and students.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban cut communications, seize UN food

Almost all communications between UN field offices in Afghanistan and
programme staff outside the country were severed at the weekend after
Taliban officials entered UN offices in the capital, Kabul, and in a
number of other locations in the country, locking and sealing radio rooms
and communications equipment. As a result, UN national staff inside the
country have been prevented from communicating about their security
situation or about developments in the humanitarian situation on the
ground, disrupting relief efforts in certain areas and halting them in
others, the UN said. Afghan staff have been sustaining UN activities in
Afghanistan, including the delivery of food aid and assistance to
displaced people, since expatriate staff were relocated for security
reasons on 12/13 September.

Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman for the Office of the UN Coordinator for
Afghanistan, said on Wednesday that programmes were continuing in some
areas, including Herat, and that some UN offices remained open. Following
requests by the UN to the Taliban to allow some radio contact in each
location, limited radio contact had been permitted from one office in
Herat, monitored by the Taliban authorities.

On Tuesday, WFP confirmed that Taliban officials had seized WFP food
stocks in Kandahar during the closure of UN offices in the city. WFP
condemned the seizure and called for the Taliban to ensure the safety of
UN staff and food stocks, and to allow emergency operations to continue.
Around 1,400 mt of food was stored in the WFP warehouse, about a 10th of
the total WFP stocks in the country. Despite the seizure, WFP confirmed on
Tuesday that it would resume food aid shipments to northern and western
Afghanistan on a trial basis. WFP shipments to Afghanistan were suspended
on 12 September due to deteriorating security conditions, a shortage of
commercial transport inside Afghanistan, and difficulties in ensuring that
food aid would reach target populations. The decision to resume food
shipments came in the wake of criticism by some aid agencies that not
enough was being done by WFP to get food into Afghanistan before the onset
of winter in November.

AFGHANISTAN: Aid agencies pre-positioning food supplies

UNICEF started airlifting urgently needed supplies at the weekend, and
pre-positioned them in countries neighbouring Afghanistan with a view to
trying and move them in as soon as possible. The move follows the closure
by Central Asian countries of their borders with Afghanistan in fear of a
huge influx of refugees, and the withdrawal of international aid workers
from the war-torn nation. "We need to get supplies in before the winter,
and the threat of a possible US attack has made our work more difficult,"
Gordon Weiss, told IRIN, on behalf of UNICEF Afghanistan. "Last winter
many children died from hunger, cold and disease, and this winter the same
could happen again," he added. The first flight, carrying more than US
$130,000 worth of critical medical supplies, tarpaulins, water
purification tablets and other relief items were flown to Turkmenistan
from where they will be "trucked into Afghanistan", Weiss said.

WFP announced on Thursday that it would start airlifting high-energy
biscuits to emergency depots in Pakistan, Iran and Turkmenistan in
preparation for the expected influx of refugees. The agency intended to
fly over 50 mt of biscuits from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD)
in Italy on Thursday, to arrive in Peshawar in Pakistan's North West
Frontier Province (NWFP) on Friday. This will be followed by a further 100
mt of biscuits to Peshawar on Friday, to be offloaded and transported by
truck to Quetta in Baluchistan Province, southwestern Pakistan. WFP is
also programming two additional flights to deliver 50 mt of biscuits to
Mashhad, northeastern Iran, on Saturday, 29 September, and 15 mt to
Ashgabat in southern Turkmenistan on Sunday, 30 September.
[For more information please go to:
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/asia/countrystories/afghanistan/20010921.phtml]

AFGHANISTAN: Trial of aid workers set to resume

Court proceedings against the eight foreign aid workers accused of
preaching Christianity in early August are set to continue in the Afghan
capital, Kabul. Diplomats and family members told IRIN on Thursday they
were less than optimistic about the fate of the four Germans, two
Australians and two Americans currently being detained in an undisclosed
location. However, the trial lawyer, who set out from Pakistan on Friday
to meet his clients in Afghanistan, remained positive. "I'm hopeful and I
think we have a very good case," Atif Ali Khan, counsel for the eight,
told IRIN on Thursday.

It is not known when the trial will resume. Howard Brown, the Australian
High Commissioner in Islamabad, told IRIN that diplomats were not even
sure where the detainees were being held, just that the Taliban foreign
ministry had moved them to what it described as "a safer location".

The eight aid workers of the German-based relief agency Shelter Now
International, along with 16 Afghan nationals, were arrested between 3 and
5 August on charges of proselytising, a charge punishable by death under
the Taliban's strict interpretation of Shari'ah law.

PAKISTAN: Aid agencies braced for refugee influx

The government of Pakistan announced on Wednesday that its borders
remained closed to Afghans without proper travel documents, but that those
who managed to cross illegally would be assisted in camps, according to
the UNHCR. The governor of Pakistan's NWFP, Syed Iftikhar Hussein Shah,
told a press briefing on Wednesday that he intended keeping the borders
closed because of the security threat posed by the Afghan opposition
Northern Alliance, which was openly critical of Pakistan (for its alleged
support of the Taliban). However, while Pakistan's border was closed to
those without proper documentation, he said Pakistan would be inclined
towards letting in more refugees from Afghanistan if there was "a
humanitarian crisis".

Pakistan was also reported to be considering a plan that would allow
Afghan women, children and elderly stranded at the Chaman border crossing
in the southwestern province of Baluchistan to be sheltered in camps for
humanitarian reasons, UNHCR stated on Wednesday. Between 10,000 and 20,000
Afghan refugees were estimated to be waiting in the area. Speaking in the
Pakistani capital, Islamabad, Minister for Kashmir Affairs, Northern
Areas, and States and Frontier Regions Abbas Sarfaraz Khan told media on
Wednesday: "For one million Afghan refugees, we will need an amount of US
$122 million for the first six months, not including the cost of food
items."

In preparation for expected new influxes of refugees, a survey team,
comprising UNHCR, Oxfam and the provincial government's commission for
Afghan refugees, has been visiting the border area in Baluchistan to look
at two potential refugee reception sites: a former refugee site from the
1980s at Dara, about 10 km north of Chaman; and a new site at Sirki
Taleri, about 8 km east of the border crossing, according to UNHCR. Four
joint UN, government and NGO survey teams have also inspected potential
sites for refugee camps in the six NWFP tribal agencies of North and South
Waziristan, Lower Dir, Kurram, Khyber and Mohmand. The teams evaluated the
suitability of some 75 sites identified by provincial authorities in terms
of water and sanitation, health, access, storage capacity and security.
The first camp could be operational within a week to 10 days, should an
influx of Afghan refugees make it necessary, UNHCR said.

PAKISTAN: Authorities concerned about health threat in border areas

Pakistani health officials have warned of a possible increase in
infectious diseases on the border with Afghanistan as hundreds of
thousands of Afghans continue to flee under the threat of US-led
retaliation. The chief executive of Pakistan's National Institute of
Health, Dr Athar Dil, told IRIN on Thursday: "We are concerned about
overcrowding, lack of facilities and basic amenities, vaccination coverage
and spread of any communicable diseases." These diseases included measles,
polio and diarrhoea, he said.

Meanwhile, fearing an influx of casualties in the event of US retaliation
against neighbouring Afghanistan, the three main hospitals in the NWFP are
"preparing for any eventuality". Hospital officials said they would be
meeting Pakistan's health ministry officials over the next few days to
discuss the situation. An health ministry official, however, told IRIN
that the ministry was not planning to place hospitals officially on high
alert as there was no need for such a move yet.

PAKISTAN: EU and bilateral assistance boosts economy

The EU announced this week that it was providing Pakistan with 20 million
euros (about US $18 million) in emergency aid to help it cope with an
anticipated Afghan refugee crisis, following a high-level European Union
(EU) mission to Islamabad. This news was followed by further boosts to
Pakistan's economy when the IMF approved a US $136 million balance of
payments credit and Japan said it would reschedule a US $550 million debt
by Pakistan, in addition to US $40 million emergency assistance.
According to AFP, the EU mission also confirmed to Pakistan that it wanted
to boost business and trade links, and to upgrade political relations with
Islamabad, and that it would ask EU governments to "look sympathetically"
at Pakistan's demand for greater access to European markets for its
textile sector.

The US, one of the key members of the IMF, is understood to have voted in
Pakistan's favour for the balance of payments credit, and has agreed to
consider ways of providing market access for Pakistani products through
the removal of duty and quota restrictions, media reported.

Pakistan has been commended internationally for standing firmly against
terrorism, despite a significant domestic constituency which opposes its
backing of the US. Since Pakistan agreed to support the coalition,
protestors have taken to the streets in Islamabad and other key cities.

Pakistan's main parties have backed President Pervez Musharraf for
cooperating with the US, but a number of more radical Moslem clerics have
vowed to declare jihad or holy war against any government - including that
of Pakistan - supporting US military action in Afghanistan.

Last week the US announced it was lifting sanctions against Pakistan and
India, imposed over nuclear tests in 1998. These include bans on foreign
assistance, arms sales, government credits and US support for multilateral
financial assistance. The US is now reported to be considering similar
action in relation to democracy-related sanctions applied after Pakistan's
1999 military coup.

IRAN: Preparations under way to assist new refugees

A UNHCR official in the Iranian capital, Tehran, told IRIN on Wednesday
that the Iranian Red Crescent Society, the Iranian government and itself
were ready to assist up to 400,000 new Afghan refugees along the border
area if necessary. "These [400,000 people mentioned] are just planning
figures. What they will be in reality remains to be seen," UNHCR spokesman
Mohammad Nouri told IRIN on Wednesday. Nouri said that, while there had
been no reports of an influx in and around the Iranian border as yet, the
refugee agency was carefully monitoring the situation through its
sub-offices in the cities of Mashhad and Zahedan, in the eastern provinces
of Khorasan and Sistan-Baluchestan. The two provinces share more than 900
km of border with Afghanistan and there is growing concern that, in the
event of military strikes on Afghanistan, thousands of civilians may
attempt to cross the frontier.

UNHCR has already sent relief items to its sub-office in Mashhad, the
provincial capital of Khorasan, which is the largest province bordering
Afghanistan. The supplies are being stockpiled in the cities of Torbat-e
Jam, Taybad, Khaf, Qaen, Birjand, and Nehvandan as a contingency measure.
There were over 2,355,000 Afghans registered in Iran as of July 2001,
according to figures provided by the interior ministry. Nouri said that
more than 95 percent of foreign aliens had been integrated into Iranian
society, of whom Afghans were the vast majority, and less than five
percent of the Afghan population in Iran lived in refugee camps.

KYRGYZSTAN: Fears of a refugee invasion

Kyrgyzstan officials are anticipating a massive inflow of refugees from
the south in the wake of any military operations in Afghanistan, and
analysts say they fear the country is not ready for a refugee crisis. "We
have to accept refugees, because Kyrgyzstan has signed international
conventions. Yet we have stopped delivering visas to Afghan and Pakistani
citizens. We have also stopped allowing flights from Pakistan and the
United Arab Emirates," the head of the international security department
at the Kyrgyz foreign ministry, Marat Usupov, told IRIN on Friday.

Kyrgyzstan currently hosts an estimated 10,000 refugees, mainly from
Tajikistan and Afghanistan, but says it lacks funds to expand support for
new refugees and enhance security at its borders. "We are coordinating
efforts with the defence ministry to filter the border, but Kyrgyzstan is
a small and poor country. Even a small number of 10,000 refugees can
destabilise our state. Among those 10,000, there could be 2,000 Taliban or
just religious fundamentalists. This is the most serious threat to us,"
said Usupov.

Uzbekistan was expected to play a crucial role in a humanitarian rescue
mission into Afghanistan as the Afghan-Uzbek border offered the best
infrastructure, UN sources said this week. A senior UN official told
Reuters news agency that the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region
would challenge Uzbekistan and other neighbours, particularly Tajikistan
and Turkmenistan, which he described as poor, closed off, and suffering
from drought. The remarks came after UN and aid agencies gathered in
Uzbekistan this week to discuss ways in which countries neighbouring
Afghanistan could play a role in the humanitarian crisis.

Uzbekistan has agreed to cooperate with the US in its anti-terrorism
campaign, while Turkmenistan will allow the US to use its air corridors
for humanitarian missions. Tajikistan has also declared its readiness to
collaborate with the US, but has denied reports that it consented to host
US forces which might carry out raids against Afghanistan. Both Kyrgyzstan
and Turkmenistan on Tuesday offered help to the US in possible military
operations in Afghanistan, following pledges of assistance from Russia and
Kazakhstan, media sources reported. A US team was reported to have landed
in Uzbekistan this week to discuss use of its airports.


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