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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e-mail: irin@irin.org.pk


Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 26
28 September - 04 October 2001


CONTENTS:

CENTRAL ASIA: Massive aid deliveries begin
AFGHANISTAN: Resumption of WFP food aid
AFGHANISTAN: US geared up to provide humanitarian aid
AFGHANISTAN: US refugee committee reports plight of Afghans
AFGHANISTAN: Hopes for post-crisis peace
AFGHANISTAN: Political opposition forces converging
AFGHANISTAN: Trial of aid workers resumes
AFGHANISTAN: Taliban arrests foreign journalist
TAJIKISTAN: Fears of imminent influx of Afghan refugees
PAKISTAN: UN Emergency Relief Coordinator in Islamabad
PAKISTAN: UN stresses crisis role of NGOs
IRAN: UN official in talks with president

CENTRAL ASIA: Massive aid deliveries begin

Shipments of food, shelter and medical supplies to Afghanistan and its
neighbours began flowing into the region on Monday as aid agencies
launched an all-out effort to avert what the UN has called a "humanitarian
crisis of stunning proportions" inside Afghanistan. The UN believes that
as many as 7.5 million Afghans will need emergency assistance in the
coming months, including 1.5 million new refugees who could flee into
neighbouring countries. In addition to some 200 mt of food shipped by WFP
to the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday - the first WFP shipment into
Afghanistan in three weeks - the first plane-load of Russian aid arrived
in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, on Tuesday. The supplies, mainly
food, tents and blankets, will be ferried into opposition-held parts of
northern Afghanistan by helicopters, as part of a Russian operation to
help Afghans and refugees in Tajikistan.

The UNHCR on Tuesday airlifted emergency shelter items, including tents,
into Mashhad, in northeastern Iran. The shelter items are part of a
British government donation. Other flights, carrying more tents, plastic
sheeting and tarpaulins, are planned for later in the week. Plastic
sheeting and blankets were also due to arrive in Pakistan's North West
Frontier Province (NWFP) on Tuesday. WFP said on Tuesday it was also
bringing aid into Afghanistan from Tajikistan and Turkmenistan before the
onset of winter. Other humanitarian agencies, including UNICEF and the
International Committee of the Red Cross, have also launched cross-border
operations into Afghanistan. Agencies fear that in weeks to come, there
will be a massive flight of Afghan refugees across its borders. One
million Afghans are expected to go to Pakistan, 400,000 to Iran and
100,000 to other neighbouring countries. For further details see IRIN
Separate report of 2 October: CENTRAL ASIA: Aid shipments get into full
swing]

Meanwhile, a press release issued by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan
(SCA) reported that SCA had dispatched a truck loaded with 10 mt of
medical supplies, which had reached Kabul on Monday. Five more trucks
loaded with medical supplies would leave Peshawar, the capital of the
NWFP, for Kabul within the next few days, and would be distributed to SCA
clinics in Kabul, Ghazni and Pol-e Khomri. In the meantime, two containers
of medical supplies were en route from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, to
Faizabad in northern Afghanistan for distribution to SCA clinics there.

AFGHANISTAN: Resumption of WFP food aid

WFP food trucks arrived in Afghanistan on Monday to replenish some of the
emergency food stocks in the capital, Kabul, and the western province of
Herat, a WFP official confirmed to IRIN. "We have heard that the trucks
have arrived safely in Kabul," Khaled Mansour, the regional spokesman for
WFP in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, said. "If we succeed with these
deliveries, then we will continue with larger quantities of food," he
added.

A total of 418 mt of wheat was sent from Pakistan to Afghanistan at the
end of last week. Leaving from Peshawar, the eight trucks bound for Kabul,
carrying 218 mt of wheat, moved on 29 September on a trial basis. Six
trucks also left Quetta, capital of Pakistan's southwestern province of
Baluchistan, on 30 September, carrying 200 mt of wheat. These trucks were
split into two convoys after crossing into Afghanistan. The first 100 mt
are destined for Kabul, and the rest for Herat. "We are using two routes
into the capital due to security reasons," Mansour explained. This is the
first time UN relief supplies have entered Afghanistan since the
suspension of aid deliveries to Afghanistan on 12 September.

In addition to the 418 mt consignment, a further 1,000 mt bound for
northeastern Afghanistan left Tajikistan on Monday. Another 400 mt of WFP
food left from neighbouring Turkmenistan moving into northern Afghanistan,
also on Monday. "We are moving in food from all possible directions,"
Mansour said. WFP local staff, together with aid workers from various
NGOs, who were working under very adverse conditions to help avoid
starvation in Afghanistan, would distribute the food to the needy Afghans
inside the country, he said. At least 5.5 million Afghans are partially or
fully dependent on assistance for survival, and more than a million have
been displaced over the past year by a combination of drought and
conflict. The food situation is set to worsen, with hundreds and thousands
more who are too poor or weak to move from their villages. [For further
details see IRIN Separate report of 1 October: AFGHANISTAN: Food aid
resumes]

AFGHANISTAN: US geared up to provide humanitarian aid

A US diplomat in Pakistan on 28 September reaffirmed America's continued
commitment to providing humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people. "If
there is a major influx of refugees, I am confident we will be able to
step in where necessary with the funding needed to assist the relief
effort for the refugees," the American official told IRIN in the capital,
Islamabad. "We know there are a lot more vulnerable people than before and
we are preparing for just that," he added.

"We stand ready to help," the US diplomat stated at a joint planning
meeting between UN agencies, the Pakistani government and the aid
community in Islamabad on 28 September. In this tax year, as the largest
donor to the Afghan people, the American government had already donated US
$183 million (up from US $113 the year before), the official, who declined
to be named, told IRIN. Food security was one of the most serious problems
inside Afghanistan because existing stocks within the country were low,
the official said. There was 65,000 mt of American wheat set to arrive in
Afghanistan, with another 100,000 mt pledged, he said.

However, restricted access to certain areas, as well as the recent Taliban
edict against the use of communication equipment within the country, would
undoubtedly hamper relief efforts, he added. "This Taliban edict on
communication equipment is a huge impediment, and we are currently looking
at places where we can still deliver some aid," the diplomat said. "We
recognise that there are Afghan people who have incredible humanitarian
needs. We know it's going to be difficult, but we'll keep trying." [For
further details see IRIN Separate report of 29 September: AFGHANISTAN: US
reaffirms humanitarian commitment]

AFGHANISTAN: US refugee committee reports plight of Afghans

The US Committee for Refugees on Monday issued a report entitled
"Pakistan: Afghan refugees shunned and scorned", which contained an
in-depth analysis of the ongoing humanitarian emergency in Pakistan and
Afghanistan. The report pays particular attention to the hardening
attitude of Pakistan towards its Afghan refugee population over the past
year. It also dwells on the refugee situation of the 11 September attacks
in the US, and makes short- and long-term recommendations on the humane
treatment of refugees, while taking into account Pakistan's legitimate
security and economic concerns.

The author of the report, Hiram A. Ruiz, the USCR senior policy analyst,
who visited the region twice this year, also describes the obstacles UN
and relief groups have faced in assisting tens of thousands of Afghan
refugees who have suffered abuses at the hands of the Pakistani
authorities. Commenting in the report on the closure of Pakistan's border
with Afghanistan, Ruiz said, "By closing the border, we are trapping
thousands of Afghan civilians - ordinary men, women and children, who
cannot be held responsible for the terrorist attacks - in a place of
terror and danger. [For the full report go to: www.refugees.org/]

AFGHANISTAN: Hopes for post-crisis peace

The global effects of the attacks on the US are now reverberating through
Afghanistan, exacerbating the country's pre-existing humanitarian crisis,
but the realignment of forces that appears to be under way, nationally and
internationally, gives hope of a more favourable climate for peace in
Afghanistan than has existed for many years, according to Francesc
Vendrell, head of the UN's Special Mission for Afghanistan. "This could be
a time for a better future for Afghanistan, if the international community
approaches the Afghan people as partners in its struggle against
terrorism," he told a press conference in the Pakistani capital,
Islamabad, on 27 September. Both the UN General Assembly and the UN
Security Council had called for a political settlement in Afghanistan that
allowed for the establishment of a broad-based and fully representative
government, and "this aim was now more relevant than ever", Vendrell said.

Both the establishment of such a government and achievement of
anti-terrorism goals could best be accomplished if Afghans were persuaded
that the international community was seriously committed to a lasting
political solution, which would involve the establishment of a government
that enjoyed both internal and external legitimacy, he added. "This must
be a truly Afghan solution, allowing the Afghans - without outside
political interference - to freely determine their future and to select a
government that is committed to pluralism, respect for human rights and
minorities, and friendly relations with all its neighbours," said
Vendrell, who is also the personal representative of UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan to Afghanistan. "The international community must not let the
Afghan people down," Vendrell concluded.

The former king of Afghanistan, Mohammad Zahir Shah, has indicated his
willingness to be part of any process of establishing a government in
Afghanistan if the ruling Taliban regime were to be toppled, according to
media reports. US officials have also held a meeting with Zahir Shah "to
assess the situation in Afghanistan" as one of many contacts they have had
with Afghan political groups and individuals, according to State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Tuesday. [For further details see
IRIN Separate report of 1 October: AFGHANISTAN: Crisis could presage
lasting peace]

AFGHANISTAN: Political opposition forces converging

Former King Mohammad Zahir Shah has reached agreement with members of the
opposition Northern Alliance to form a "supreme council of Afghan leaders"
and discuss the political future of Afghanistan, according to news reports
on Tuesday. The two sides met in Italy, where the 86 year-old Zahir Shah
lives, and agreed to convene a traditional Loya Jirgah - or grand council
of tribal chiefs, intellectuals and religious leaders - to discuss a
potential replacement for the ruling Taliban Islamic Movement, the BBC
reported. The political leader of the Alliance, Burhanuddin Rabbani,
remains president of Afghanistan, in spite of having been ousted by the
Taliban in 1996, and holds the Afghan seat at the United Nations. The UN
has never given political recognition to the de facto Taliban government.

Meanwhile, the "Six-plus-Two" (comprising Afghanistan's neighbours: Iran,
Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China - plus the US and
Russia) talks, which the UN has been hosting without making much headway
for the past four years are now being taken much more seriously, not least
by the US, according to sources cited by the UK-based 'Guardian' newspaper
on Monday.

Pakistan was no longer defining "broad-based government" to mean the
Taliban (which it backed until the geopolitical crisis which has followed
the 11 September attacks on the US) having 90 percent of cabinet seats,
and other groups sharing the remainder, the report stated. Islamabad was
now "planning a coup to bring moderates forward", and adopting a more
realistic position, the 'Guardian' said, citing Iranian officials. [For
further details see IRIN Separate of 3 October: AFGHANISTAN: Anti-Taliban
coalition shaping up]

AFGHANISTAN: Trial of aid workers resumes

The lawyers for the eight foreign aid workers held by the Taliban since
August on charges that they tried to convert Afghans to Christianity have
been given up to 15 days to prepare their defence. The Pakistani lawyers
for the accused, Atif Ali Khan and Besmillah Jan, met their clients for
the first time in the Afghan capital, Kabul, at the end of last week, AFP
reported. According to media reports, the lawyers were told at a court
hearing on Sunday that they could meet the defendants, and were given
their first opportunity to assess the evidence collected by the Taliban
against the accused, some of it seized from their homes and offices.

Khan told media in Afghanistan that the case was "unique". "There is no
precedent to date. This is a very unique case, so the circumstances are
going to be very different from any other case they have tried over here,"
Khan was quoted as saying. The trial of the aid workers - four Germans,
two Australians and two Americans - resumed on Sunday after a three week
suspension, following uncertainty over what would happen in Afghanistan in
the wake of the 11 September attacks on the US. The aid workers, dressed
in traditional Afghan clothes, were brought to court by armed Taliban
fighters, according to media reports. They seemed well, although one of
the women was said to be suffering from a mild illness. There has been no
word on the fate of 16 Afghan Muslims who worked for the aid agency and
were arrested at the same time. [For further details see IRIN Separate
report of 2 October: AFGHANISTAN: Lawyers given time to prepare defence]

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban arrests foreign journalist

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned
the recent arrest of a British journalist, and her two male guides in
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. "We strongly urge Taliban authorities to
release Yvonne Ridley and her two colleagues immediately," the CPJ
executive director, Ann Cooper, said in a statement sent to IRIN on
Tuesday. Ridley, who works for the UK-based 'Sunday Express' newspaper,
was arrested on 28 September near the eastern city of Jalalabad,
reportedly on suspicion of spying, a claim which has been described as
"absurd" by her employers. Taliban officials also claim she had entered
the country without a passport and visa, according to the Afghan Islamic
Press (AIP), a news agency based in neighbouring Pakistan and said to have
close links with the Taliban.

The Taliban has confirmed that it is holding Ridley for investigation, and
say she is being treated well, the AIP reported. However, the CPJ has
expressed concern over conflicting reports and the lack of information
about her situation. Red Cross officials have visited Ridley and have said
that she seems to be in good condition. The charge of spying in
Taliban-controlled areas carries the death sentence. [For further details
see IRIN Separate report of 3 October: AFGHANISTAN: Rights body condemns
arrest of journalist]

TAJIKISTAN: Fears of imminent influx of Afghan refugees

Aid workers told IRIN on 28 September that any large influx of Afghan
refugees could create a "very serious situation" for Tajikistan. UNHCR
said on 27 September that it anticipated up to 50,000 Afghans could flee
to Tajikistan to escape possible US retaliation for the 11 September
attacks. "Such an increase of Afghans in Tajikistan would stretch the
already meagre resources they have," said Jane Cockerell, a logistician
and administrator for the British health NGO Merlin, based in the Tajik
capital, Dushanbe. Officials at Merlin fear that the intensity of the
latest fighting reported in northern Afghanistan could lead to thousands
of displaced Afghans heading towards the Tajik border.

Merlin has 60 staff members working in the border area, providing health
care and distributing relief supplies. It and other relief agencies are
making contingency plans for a possible influx of Afghan refugees to
Tajikistan, and pre-positioning supplies to allow for an early response,
but also weighing up the possibility of moving into northern Afghanistan
to work with the displaced there if the security situation allows.

Tajikistan, whose own stability is fragile after years of civil war, has
said it cannot afford to host any Afghan refugees. President Emomali
Rahmonov recently said his country could ill afford the entry of a single
one, "because there could be emissaries of different international
terrorist organisations among them". Apart from the potential political
implications, the humanitarian situation in Tajikistan is itself very
serious, with up to one million lives at risk in the coming winter,
according to relief workers. Matthew Kahane, UN Humanitarian Coordinator
in Tajikistan, said the country suffered the worst drought in 75 years
last year, and this had affected 1.2 million people in a population of 6.2
million. [For further details see IRIN Separate report of 29 September:
TAJIKISTAN: Humanitarian workers warn of precarious situation]

PAKISTAN: UN Emergency Relief Coordinator in Islamabad

In an effort to highlight the desperate plight of the Afghan people and
review the state of preparedness of UN agencies, UN
Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima
arrived on a three-day mission in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on
Sunday at the request of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. During a meeting
with President Pervez Musharraf on Monday, Oshima said he understood
Pakistan's reasons for closing its border with Afghanistan, but said the
UN would continue to press all countries neighbouring Afghanistan to open
their borders to refugees. He also expressed appreciation that some
preparatory effort was already under way between the Pakistani government
and UNHCR to identify sites for possible camps in Pakistan. The UN
estimates that as many as a million refugees could cross into Pakistan in
coming weeks, with a further 500,000 into neighbouring Iran and
Tajikistan.

Oshima was speaking at a press briefing in the Pakistani capital,
Islamabad, on Monday during his three-day mission to the country to
discuss UN plans to assist as many as 7.5 million in need inside
Afghanistan. While noting the measures being applied outside Afghanistan,
Oshima stressed the importance of getting assistance to those inside the
war-torn country. "Many of those who are leaving the cities and trying to
cross into other countries have the means to travel these distances. Those
who are still inside Afghanistan are trapped, because they have no assets
and no means to leave," Oshima told IRIN. "There are a large number of
people who need food, water, shelter and other life-saving material inside
Afghanistan. We must do everything within our means to get large amounts
of aid to these people as fast as possible."

Oshima also spoke about his meeting on Monday with the Taliban ambassador
to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, saying he had stressed the intention of
the UN humanitarian agencies and the international community to do as much
as possible for the Afghan people. Oshima said he told the ambassador that
if UN international staff were to be welcomed back to Afghanistan, they
would go, provided there were guarantees from the Taliban over their
security and their ability to get assistance to those in need. This would
include the Taliban allowing staff to use communications equipment. [For
further details see IRIN Separate of 2 October: PAKISTAN: UN Emergency
Relief Coordinator urges fast response to Afghan crisis]

PAKISTAN: UN stresses crisis role of NGOs

Speaking at a press briefing in in Islamabad on 28 September, the Director
of the United Nations Information Centre, Eric Falt, stressed the "crucial
role" of NGOs in any humanitarian crisis. "All UN agencies work with NGOs,
who often have a knowledge of the field that is unmatched, and who bring
the kind of closeness to the people that our large organisations sometimes
cannot provide," he said. Falt noted in this respect that the UN's US $584
million appeal for assistance for Afghanistan included a request for US
$8.6 million to be funnelled directly through NGOs.

Falt said: "Here in Pakistan, NGOs will necessarily have an important role
in the unfolding humanitarian crisis, even though we recognise and
appreciate the fact that the refugee camps will be located in tribal
areas, and that it will represent an impeding factor. NGOs will be a
partner of the donors, of the UN and of the government, and will help in
various areas, such as supplementary feeding, water and sanitation, or
health. There are various modalities of NGO support still to be
determined, but it has been an inescapable fact in recent crises such as
Kosovo and elsewhere that they must be made full partners in any
humanitarian crisis."

IRAN: UN official in talks with president

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima travelled to Iran on Tuesday
as part of the UN effort to shore up regional assistance to the Afghan
people. "Iran is a key partner for the humanitarian effort in
Afghanistan," Oshima told IRIN. "I hope my coming here has highlighted
that, and I look forward to continued cooperation with the government
here," he added. Oshima visited the eastern city of Mashhad, a city many
consider could be on the country's humanitarian front line in view of its
proximity to the Afghan border, some 280 km to the southeast.

During his meeting with Iranian President Muhammad Khatami in the capital
Tehran on Wednesday, Oshima thanked the Iranian authorities for their
continued support and generosity in assisting the Afghan people,
emphasising at the same time the need for increased cross-border
assistance.

The UN is placing priority on getting relief and food aid to the people in
their normal home areas within Afghanistan, and in view of the fact that
Iran shares over 900 km of border with the country, Oshima called on
Tehran to facilitate the UN's efforts. In a press conference on Wednesday
afternoon, Oshima told reporters the UN's priority was to get assistance
into Afghanistan. "The more we are successful, the less likely [the
eventuality] of a refugee problem," he said. In order to perform this
task, he said: "Clearly here we need pragmatism, innovation and
cooperation." [For further details see IRIN Separate report of 4 October:
IRAN: UN calls on Tehran for cooperation in Afghan crisis]


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