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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 27
05 - 11 October 2001


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Annan stresses "dire plight" of civilians
AFGHANISTAN: UN agencies prepare to receive refugees
AFGHANISTAN: Fears of ethnic violence
AFGHANISTAN: Explosion kills four UN de-miners
AFGHANISTAN: Donors respond to UN aid appeal
AFGHANISTAN: WFP launches new appeal
PAKISTAN: Anti-war protesters burn UN office
TAJIKISTAN: Officials fear refugee influx
TAJIKISTAN: Fears of refugee influx subside
IRAN: Preparations in Mashhad to help Afghans
IRAN: UNICEF poised to act on Afghan crisis
IRAN: Anti-war protests in Tehran and Qom

AFGHANISTAN: Annan stresses "dire plight" of civilians

Following the first night of US-led air strikes against Afghanistan, UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan called attention to the dire plight of Afghan
civilians, and highlighted the crucial role being played by the UN in
providing them with aid. "The people of Afghanistan, who cannot be held
responsible for the acts of the Taliban regime, are now in desperate need
of aid," Annan said in New York on Monday. "The United Nations has long
played a key role in providing humanitarian assistance to them, and it is
my hope that we will be able to step up our humanitarian work as soon as
possible."

At a press briefing in New York on Monday, UN Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima said
that the UN would scale up its operations in Afghanistan "at the earliest
opportunity", and do everything it could to support up to 7.5 million
Afghan civilians with food, medicine and shelter. "We will concentrate on
internally displaced persons in camps in cities such as Herat, Mazar-e
Sharif and Kabul, and people threatened by starvation in rural areas,"
Oshima said. He added that the intensification of hostilities made it
necessary to remind the world of the need to protect innocent civilians,
to distinguish between them and combatants, and to secure the necessary
conditions to deliver aid.

"To work we must have the ability to communicate with our national staff,
700 of whom work inside Afghanistan," Oshima said. "We must have real
guarantees of security and safety of both humanitarian staff and supplies,
and have the permission of the Taliban to use our aircraft over the
country." He added that at a meeting in Geneva on 5 October donors had
expressed their intention to provide over US $700 million for humanitarian
needs in and around Afghanistan. [For further details see IRIN Separate
report of 9 October: AFGHANISTAN: UN calls for increased humanitarian
action]

AFGHANISTAN: UN agencies prepare to receive refugees

WFP temporarily suspended food aid deliveries into Afghanistan following
US air strikes on the country. "We don't want to put people's lives at
risk," Mike Huggins, the WFP spokesman in the Pakistani capital,
Islamabad, told IRIN on Tuesday. He said local truck companies inside
Afghanistan were transporting food, but that it was becoming increasingly
difficult for them to drive into the most needy areas. Huggins confirmed
that the last delivery of 200 mt of food aid had arrived in the Afghan
capital, Kabul, on Tuesday morning, following a second round of US strikes
on the city. Another convoy of 14 trucks carrying 525 mt was on its way to
the western Afghan province of Herat, and a third convoy with 400 mt had
safely arrived in the northern province of Faryab from pre-positioned
supplies in Turkmenistan, he said. "We have pre-positioned supplies on all
borders with Afghanistan. This is the best option, and we will continue to
do this," he said.

The UN food agency is working with various international NGOs in a race
against time. Although there was 8,000 mt of food inside Afghanistan, and
local aid workers were continuing to work as much as they could under a
communication blackout, there was still an immense need for food, Huggins
said. After the events of 11 September, WFP suspended operations but
resumed over a week ago, and has since distributed over 14,000 mt inside
Afghanistan, reaching up to 1.7 million people.

In addition to this food aid, US aircraft dropped a further 37,000
packages of food in Afghanistan on Monday. A similar quantity of food was
dropped on Sunday. Meanwhile, UNHCR in Pakistan has said it is ready to
provide shelter in the form of tents and blankets for up to 100,000 new
arrivals. Yusuf Hassan, the UNHCR spokesman in Islamabad, said
preparations were being made for an initial influx of some 300,000 into
Pakistan and 80,000 into Iran. A team comprising representatives from
UNHCR and Pakistan's Commissioner of Afghan Refugees was in the process of
inspecting camp sites in the Tribal Areas of the NWFP.  [For further
details see IRIN Separate report of 8 October: AFGHANISTAN: UN agencies
prepare for refugee exodus] The suspension of WFP food deliveries was
lifted on Wednesday. [For details see IRIN Separate report of 10 October:
AFGHANISTAN: WFP again resumes aid deliveries]

AFGHANISTAN: Fears of ethnic violence

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that ethnic violence in Afghanistan
could break out as fighting escalates between the ruling Taliban and the
opposition Northern Alliance. In north-central parts of the country,
ethnic Hazaras have been "repeated targets of such violence, and remain
vulnerable", a statement issued over the weekend said. The Hazaras are
Shi'ah Muslims, sharply distinguishing them from the orthodox Sunni and
mainly ethnic Pashtun Taliban.

"Over the last three years, we've seen a series of reprisal killings in
Hazarajat and areas to its north, as control has shifted back and forth,"
Sidney Jones, Asia director of HRW said. "Outside pressure and monitoring
is urgently needed to prevent further abuses," he added. The statement
said there was a possibility of renewed attacks by the Taliban on Hazaras
and other northern minorities, especially those considered sympathetic to
the Northern Alliance. Moreover, if Taliban rule ended violently, there
could be opposition reprisals against ethnic Pashtuns and other
communities perceived as having supported the Taliban.

Amnesty International has also issued a statement. It says both sides to
the conflict must take all necessary precautions to protect civilians.
"Vulnerable groups, such as women and ethnic minorities, must not be
subjected to further abuses," the statement said. It added that captured
combatants must be treated as prisoners-of-war in conformity with the
Third Geneva Convention. Amnesty International urged the international
community to intensify efforts to respond to the humanitarian emergency
within Afghanistan and in neighbouring countries. [For further details see
IRIN Separate report of 9 October: AFGHANISTAN: Rights body warns of
ethnic violence]

AFGHANISTAN: Explosion kills four UN de-miners

Four UN mine-action staff members were instantly killed when a missile or
bomb struck their office in the Afghan capital, Kabul, the UN announced on
Tuesday in Islamabad. The incident took place on Monday evening during the
second wave of US-led strikes, prompting calls for the need to protect
civilian lives and assets in Afghanistan. In a press conference on
Tuesday, the UN spokeswoman for the Office of the Coordinator for
Afghanistan, Stephanie Bunker, said the incident took place at 2100 local
time on Monday during night air attacks on Kabul. Due to poor
communications with national staff inside the country, the UN in Islamabad
was only notified of the accident at 1130 on Tuesday.

The four Afghan staff belonged to the Afghan Technical Consultancy (ATC),
which, established in 1989, forms part of the UN's mine-clearance effort.
One of the largest and most experienced mine-clearance agencies, ATC was
tasked with clearing minefields and unexploded ordnance throughout the
country. Bunker said ATC had been responsible for the clearance of 32
percent of all cleared mine areas to date.

Bunker said that although the UN had received the report of the deaths of
the four UN mine action staff, it had little information on conditions for
civilians inside the country.  According to local sources in Kabul, 50
percent of civil servants had turned up for work on Monday, but UN
national staff attendance had dropped. "There is no mass panic in Kabul,
but nor is there universal calm," she said. [For further details see IRIN
Separate report of 9 October: AFGHANISTAN: Four UN de-miners killed in air
attack]

AFGHANISTAN: Donors respond to UN aid appeal

Promises of financial support for the UN emergency appeal for Afghanistan
launched last week have begun to pour in. The UN appeal, launched by UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 4 October, called for US $584 million in
emergency aid for assistance inside Afghanistan, and for 1.5 new refugees
expected to flee, mainly into Pakistan and Iran. About half of the appeal
is earmarked for these new refugees. Indications so far are that more than
US $90 million has already been formally pledged for the Afghan crisis,
but some of this is believed to include old pledges made before the new
appeal was launched, and some has been earmarked for communities in
countries hosting refugee populations, sources said.

Aid officials in Islamabad said the US promise of a massive aid package of
US $320 million would make a radical difference to the aid effort,
although details as to how it would be spent were not yet clear. There was
concern that funds should be focused on alleviating conditions inside
Afghanistan. On 3 October the International Federation of Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies said that while their focus was primarily on
refugees leaving Afghanistan, they were seriously concerned over the
plight of those inside the country.

Chris Kaye, head of the programme section for the Office of the UN
Coordinator for Afghanistan, told IRIN that mechanisms had been set up by
the UN in Geneva to track pledges and donations to the appeal, but that it
was difficult to say at this stage how much new money had been received.
"Donations have been very encouraging so far, but we need to remember that
it will take a massive amount of money if we are to make any lasting
improvement to the lives of Afghans who stay in Afghanistan," Kaye said.
[For further details see IRIN Separate report of 5 October: AFGHANISTAN:
Donations pour in to avert humanitarian crisis]

AFGHANISTAN: WFP launches new appeal

The executive head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Catherine
Bertini, has unveiled plans for a massive increase in food aid for 7.5
million people in Afghanistan. WFP estimates that 52,000 mt of food aid
per month is required to feed six million people inside the country and
1.5 million expected to seek refuge outside the country fleeing
hostilities. So far, WFP has received under 30 percent of the US $257
million required to assist the 7.5 million. Appealing in Rome on 4 October
to the international community to respond generously to the humanitarian
crisis, Bertini told reporters that millions of lives were at stake.
"Fortunately we have not seen a significant outflow of refugees. However,
inside the country we face a vast food crisis as a result of three years
of festering drought and ongoing civil war, she said.

The intensity of the crisis varies according to the region. In the
northern provinces of Balkh and Faryab, both heavily affected by drought,
400,000 people are expected to run out of food and international supplies
this week. "Their situation is perilous," Bertini said, warning that a
further 100,000 people would be cut off from food deliveries in the
mountainous central highlands once the snows started in November.
"Unfortunately, given the current situation on the ground, it is
impossible to pre-position the necessary food supplies to last these
people through the winter. Without food, they will either have to leave
their homes in search of supplies, or die," she warned.

Francesco Luna, a WFP spokesman in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, told
IRIN that US $257 million had been requested for the emergency operation.
Of this, US $27 million would be required to set up a logistics support
network in the region. Although nearly all the food would still need to be
transported by road, from neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Iran
and Turkmenistan, air drops into the remoter part of Afghanistan were also
planned, he said. [For further details see IRIN Separate report of 5
October: AFGHANISTAN: WFP plan massive food aid operation]

PAKISTAN: Anti-war protesters burn UN office

Religious leaders in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) have
warned of continuing unrest in response to the US-led strikes against
Afghanistan. Religious groups in Pakistan have declared jihad - holy war -
against the US, in retaliation for the air strikes, which are targeting
Taliban military assets and terrorist training camps. One of the groups
heading anti-US protests in the NWFP, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), which
held a meeting in Hangu, some 100 km from the provincial capital,
Peshawar, has warned that thousands of mujahidin fighters are ready to
join the Taliban. Pakistani authorities have put the leader of the JUI,
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, under house arrest in an attempt to quell protests
by the group. Local media sources confirmed to IRIN that thousands of
protesters had taken to the streets and attacked police stations and a
bank on Monday. At least 13 people, including two policemen, were said to
have been injured during the demonstrations, in which tear gas was used to
disperse the crowds.

Anti-West sentiment is running high among religious groups across
Pakistan, and UN staff were asked to stay at home on Monday for fear of
reprisals. Protesters vented their anger in southwestern Pakistan by
burning the UNICEF office in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province,
substantially damaging the building. Five UNICEF vehicles were also set
alight and two motorcycles damaged. Media reports suggested there were
some 10,000 people demonstrating in this province alone, and the BBC
reported that one man died and several other were injured there. The
protests are reported to be continuing on Tuesday. Demonstrations were
also held in front of UNHCR offices and the UN Special Mission for
Afghanistan in Quetta, where windows were smashed. However, no UN staff
member was injured. The UN has said it is discussing the incident with the
Pakistani authorities. [For further details see IRIN Separate report of 9
October: PAKISTAN: Religious leaders warn of unrest

TAJIKISTAN: Officials fear refugee influx

Tajik officials maintain that a massive influx of Afghan refugees into
Tajikistan could serve to destabilise this already impoverished country,
where over one million people remain reliant on international food aid in
the wake of a three-year drought. The deputy secretary of the Tajik
Security Council, Nuralisho Nazarov, told IRIN on 5 October that even
admitting those Afghan refugees now concentrated on or near the Tajik
border would be tantamount to "social and economic suicide for
Tajikistan". With the UN estimating that up to 1.5 million Afghans could
flee if US strikes went ahead, the fear among officials is that many of
the refugees will head for Northern Alliance-held areas bordering
Tajikistan. However, other local analysts disagree. Although US strikes
would exacerbate the sociopolitical situation in Tajikistan, they maintain
that the vast majority of Afghan refugees will head for Pakistan and Iran,
as has traditionally been the case in the past.

Russia has joined efforts to increase international assistance within
Afghanistan. According to Maksim Peshkov, the Russian ambassador in
Tajikistan, 80 mt of humanitarian aid, including tents, medicines and
food, has arrived in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. In addition, a special
train carrying medicines, diesel generators, field hospitals and field
kitchens is on its way from Russia. Peshkov said the supplies would be
handed over to representatives of the Northern Alliance, who would take
charge of distributing the aid among the displaced in the northern
provinces of Takhar, Badakshan and the Panjshir Valley. He told IRIN he
did not expect a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan. [For further
details see IRIN Separate report of 6 October: TAJIKISTAN: Russia joins
Afghan refugee relief effort]

TAJIKISTAN: Fears of refugee influx subside

Despite concern that events in neighbouring Afghanistan could destabilise
Tajikistan's fragile peace, there is a growing consensus in Dushanbe that
a massive influx of Afghan refugees was less likely now that US-led air
strikes were under way, and the Northern Alliance had remained intact
after the assassination of its main commander, Ahmad Shah Mas'ud. The
Chairman of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), Sayed Abdullo
Nuri, told journalists on Monday, he did not rule out the possibility that
recent events in Afghanistan could adversely affect Tajikistan. "When
there is a fire in the house it may singe the neighbour's," he said. "We
have re-established and are striving for peace in Tajikistan," he added,
warning that an Afghan refugee influx could bring in extremists intent on
sowing instability. Various unaffiliated groups, totalling some 600 men,
were waiting for an opportunity to destabilise the peace in Tajikistan, he
said.

"With the death of Commander Mas'ud one month ago, I did wonder if we were
facing our worst-case scenario," UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Tajikistan
Mathew Kahane told IRIN on Tuesday. However, with coalition air strikes
now under way in Afghanistan, and with reports of the opposition forces
readying themselves for an offensive, he said the likelihood of a major
refugee influx into Tajikistan was remote. Kahane said he now expected
international staff would be returning to Faizabad, the capital of the
north-eastern Badakhshan Province, under the control of the Northern
Alliance, to resume assistance to approximately 120,000 displaced people
and residents in the area. The US-led air strikes had appeared to obviate
the risk of Taliban air raids on Faizabad, he said.

Kahane regards fears of large numbers of Afghan refugees reaching
Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan as unfounded. "I don't see that scenario
evolving. There's no Afghan border remotely near Kyrgyzstan, and I don't
see Taliban forces crossing into Tajikistan in hot pursuit of refugees,"
he said. [For further details see IRIN Separate report of 10 October:
TAJIKISTAN: Major exodus of Afghans deemed less likely]

IRAN: Preparations in Mashhad to help Afghans

The northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, 250 km northwest of the border
with Afghanistan, is set to play a major role in the UN's regional
contingency planning in the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
Current mobilisation of UN activities there underscores the importance
Iran, like neighbouring Pakistan, will play in the crisis. "Iran is very
important, particularly for getting access and food into the northern
region [of Afghanistan]," the recently appointed UN Regional Humanitarian
Coordinator (RHC), Mike Sackett, told IRIN. "Mashhad will be the forward
base, a staging point for the Afghan western regional team in exile to
work from," he said. Currently the UN and other agencies are bringing in
additional staff to beef up their presence in the city, he added.

Asked to comment on the importance of Mashhad, Mohammad Nouri, the UNHCR
spokesman in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Sunday echoed Sackett's
views.  "In addition to UNHCR's sub-office in Zahedan in
Sistan-Baluchestan, our sub-office in Mashhad will play a pivotal role,
given its proximity to the border," he said. "Its international airport
and transportation facilities will facilitate the transfer of
international humanitarian assistance into Afghanistan, as well as relief
items to be stored in Iran along the border area with the country," he
added.

According to Nouri, there are two main border crossing points, these being
Dogharun in the Iranian province of Khorasan, and Milak in
Sistan-Baluchestan, where UNHCR is present and monitoring the situation.
Although the Iranian government has officially sealed the border, the
Iranian interior ministry and UNHCR in Khorasan Province have identified
five places along the border where relief items are now being stored.
Those sites, all inside Iran, are Saleh Abad, Khaf, Yazdan, Mil-e 75, and
Nehbandan. Five other places within Afghanistan, each of them opposite to
one of the five places in Iran, have been identified by the interior
ministry as gathering places for a possible refugee influx. Should such an
influx begin into the border areas, then the relief materials stored on
the Iranian side could be transferred to those gathering places, Nouri
said. Meanwhile, in Sistan-Baluchestan, the Iranian authorities have
identified two other potential sites, both the southeastern city of Zabol
- Mil-e 46 and Pashmekeh. "In case of a possible influx, the emergency
relief items stored in Zabol will be transferred to these two sites,"
Nouri said. [For further details see IRIN Separate report of 6 October:
IRAN: Mashhad to become key staging point in Afghan crisis]

IRAN: UNICEF poised to act on Afghan crisis

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) confirmed to IRIN on Sunday
its plans to airlift an additional 80 mt of relief aid to Mashhad this
week as part of its continuing efforts to assist the Afghan people. Luc
Chauvin, the UNICEF programme officer in the Iranian capital, Tehran, said
the planned relief aid, worth some US $300,000, would be dispatched from
UNICEF stores in Europe. It would include tents, blankets, water
purification items and sanitary packages. "We are expecting two more
flights for Iran, as well as additional flights to the subregion this
week," Chauvin said.

The move follows the arrival of 30 mt of health materials in Mashhad from
UNICEF in Denmark on Friday. The delivery was of one of six flights to the
subregion last week, comprising three for Pakistan, two for Turkmenistan
and one for Iran. The consignments, valued at US $150,000, "will be able
to cater to the immediate basic health needs of some three million people
living in the western Afghan province of Herat for three months", Chauvin
said. The relief items, transferred to seven Iranian Red Crescent trucks,
were set to be dispatched to the border on Monday, crossing into
Afghanistan on Tuesday morning for Herat, he added. [For further details
see IRIN Separate report of 7 October: IRAN: UNICEF steps up relief effort
for Afghan crisis]

IRAN: Anti-war protests in Tehran and Qom

The office of the United Nations Development Programme in the Iranian
capital, Tehran, closed on Thursday following protests by student
demonstrators outside the building. Holding placards condemning the US-led
retaliatory strikes on Taliban-held Afghanistan, the protesters called for
an immediate end to the military campaign. The UN deputy resident
coordinator, Hauling Xu, told IRIN that over 150 protesters began
assembling in front of the building on Wednesday night and, as a security
precaution, the UN had decided to close for the day. "Shame on America and
shame on the UN for allowing it," 22 year-old Mohammad Azadi told IRIN
outside the building. His comments reflect the views of many people in
this strictly Islamic country that such attacks will only foster further
misery for the civilian population in Afghanistan.

The protests outside the UN came in the wake of strong condemnation by
prominent Iranian clerics, MPs and organisations on Wednesday, blasting US
President George W. Bush, and saying the attacks on Afghanistan would only
lead to a grave human tragedy there. According to a report in the Iranian
daily, 'Tehran Times', on Thursday, in addition to strong criticism of the
attacks by Iranian MPs during Wednesday’s parliamentary session, other
Iranian figures and organisations who condemned the attacks were Ayatollah
Ahmad Jannati, Ayatollah Nuri Hamadani and the Association of Muslim
Journalists.

Elsewhere in Iran, some 2,000 Islamic theology students protested in the
southwestern city of Qom on Wednesday, denouncing the US-led strikes. A
rally held in the Qom’s seminary was attended mostly by young Iranian and
Afghan religious students chanting "Death to America" and slogans in
support of Iran’s religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i. The peaceful
rally lasted less than an hour and did not spill into the street, the
report said. It added, however, that another rally against the attacks
might follow in Tehran on Friday. [For further details see IRIN Separate
report of 11 October: IRAN: Anti-war protest leads to UN office closure in
Tehran]


IRIN-Asia
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