Afghanistan OCHA Situation Report No. 32

1. The Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, Mr. Abdulaziz Kamilov, and the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Uzbekistan, Mr. Richard Conroy, signed an agreement this afternoon in Tashkent that is intended to boost the delivery of assistance from Uzbekistan to northern Afghanistan. The agreement sets out a series of arrangements that will facilitate humanitarian cross-border operations by air, rail and road, as well as the movement of humanitarian staff across the border between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. Most importantly, the agreement will expedite the delivery of food, medicine, blankets, clothing and other essential, life-saving assistance across the recently reopened Friendship Bridge. The United Nations Joint Logistics Center and the Ministry of Emergency Situations will jointly co-ordinate the passage of wagons and vehicles over the bridge and arrange for the necessary clearances. The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr. Kenzo Oshima, hailed the signing of the agreement as an important step towards meeting desperate needs in undersupplied areas in northern Afghanistan, but he also cautioned that increasing cross-border deliveries will only be effective if the assistance can reach those who need it most.
   2. MSF is increasingly concerned about the nutritional situation in northern Afghanistan. Of particular concern are southern areas of Faryab, one of the provinces that have been most seriously affected by the drought over the past three years. A nutritional survey conducted in the Qayser and Almar districts in August 2001 showed a global malnutrition rate of 9.8 % with 0.8 % severe malnutrition. Since that survey, the population has been surviving mainly on bread and tea, and MSF is observing a steady increase in the number of severely malnourished children attending their feeding centers. During the month of November, more than 17% of the children attending the two nutritional centres in Qayser and Almar districts were severely malnourished. Almost 20% of them do not come back within the first week and MSF fears that many of them may have died.

3. The World Health Organization (WHO) says there is an urgent need for more health services in Herat. Currently, only five clinics are serving the health needs of about 300,000 people -- with a sixth clinic to open soon. Acute respiratory infections, including pneumonia, are plaguing the people gathered in and around Herat. WHO is also concerned about tuberculosis in the overcrowded Maslakh camp.

4. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today established a temporary fund to enable donors to provide financial support for the Interim Authority for Afghanistan during the next six months. Donors can contribute immediately to the UN Afghan Interim Authority Fund, which will be used to cover administrative costs and essential rehabilitation of administrative facilities.

Deliveries and Distribution of Assistance

5. Insecurity continues to hamper relief efforts in many areas. In the eastern region, the security situation is reported to be tense in the provinces of Laghman, Paktia, Paktika and Khost. In Paktia, inter-tribal fighting and looting has been reported on the road between Gardez and Khost. IRIN reports that international NGO staff had to be evacuated from Pol-e Khomri in northern Baghlan province due to fighting between Northern Alliance forces and the former governor, Said Jafar Nadeeri. Baghlan remains on the most undersupplied provinces, with a shortfall in food deliveries of about 80%.

6. In Kabul, WFP has distributed wheat to 900,000 people. The distributions are now going smoothly after the difficulties WFP encountered at five isolated distribution points on the first day of distribution. UNHCR today distributed aid to 1,600 persons in Kabul from stocks that were airlifted to Bagram airfield yesterday.

7. In Mazar-i-Sharif, together with the French NGOs ACTED and Solidarites, UNHCR is distributing aid to 1,000 people in Balkh Province, including tents, blankets, jerry cans buckets and plastic tarpaulins. In Baghlan Province, UNHCR is initially providing aid to some 2,500 displaced Afghans who will receive various items including blankets, cooking stoves, buckets, jerry cans, plastic tarpaulins, soap and kitchen sets.

8. UNICEF and OXFAM are collaborating to distribute winter clothes, shoes and blankets for 3,000 Hazara children, mainly in Bamian, Yakawlang and Panjao. UNICEF and partner NGO CHA have made preparations for nutrition intervention in the most vulnerable district of Chaghcharan of Ghor Province. This week, UNICEF plans to dispatch 51 tons of UNIMIX and 9.5 tons of vegetable oil to ensure supplementary feeding for 1,400 children under five, and 2,900 pregnant and lactating women.

Population Movements

9. More than 7,600 people returned this week from Iran, bringing the total of returns to 30,000 since 12 November (the date the Taliban withdrew from Herat). Similarly, through the Chaman border crossing point from Pakistan's Balochistan Province, 7,000 Afghans returned home this week, while more than 3,500 Afghans reportedly crossed home to Kabul and Jalalabad through Pakistan's Khyber Pass. UNHCR is cautioning Afghans not to rush back to the country until conditions have improved.

10. UNOCHA has called for meetings between relief agencies to discuss coordination related to the return of IDPs in the Panjshir Valley to the Shomali Plains north of Kabul. UNHCR is currently conducting a survey amongst IDPs in Panjshir and in the ex-Soviet compound in Kabul, to identify places of origin and gauge the willingness to return. All food and non-food relief by UN Agencies and NGOs are being coordinated to avoid overlap. UNICEF has engaged three NGOs (ACTED, AMI and ACDO) to provide non-food items such as children's clothes, family kits, winter boots and plastic sheeting for some 3,400 IDP families in Panjshir. Also, since the Shomali Plains are heavily mined and affected by cluster bombs, de-mining has emerged as a top priority ahead of organizing the returns.

11. In Pakistan, a total of 758 families (3,984 persons) have been transferred to Mohammed Kheil Camp from various sites in Quetta City. The next relocation will take place on 20 December, and convoys will continue to take up to 400 families per day from Quetta to Mohammed Kheil until the end of the year. UNHCR expects to have moved a total of 20,000 people from Quetta by 31 December.

12. This situation report is also available on the OCHA Website http://www.reliefweb.int.

Desk Officer:
New York: Mr. Andrew Cox, direct tel. +1 (212) 963-2735
Geneva: Mr. Ivo Freijsen, direct tel. +41 (22) 917-1695

Press Contact:
New York: Mr. Oliver Ulich, direct tel. +1 (212) 963-8263
Geneva: Ms. Elisabeth Byrs, direct tel. +41 (22) 917-2656
Islamabad: Ms. Stephanie Bunker, direct tel. +92 51 2211451 ext. 415

This situation report does not necessarily represent the official view of the United Nations.