TALKING POINTS
Fighting in the Jawjan/Balkh Provinces
Fighting in Fayzabad District (Jawjan province) near the Chahar Bolak District (Balk Province) began yesterday, Wednesday at around 2:00 p.m. between Jamiat and Jumbesh. It continued throughout most of the night and has now ceased as reported to us with Jumbesh taking control of the area. According to these preliminary reports the conflict was very intense with both sides using tanks as well as mortars and claiming high numbers of casualties. We cannot confirm the number of these casualties at this time.
The conflict erupted after are build up of tensions to the west of Mazar city. On 3 October, UNAMA received reports that 15 Jamiat commanders had been captured in Chahi District. On the evening of 4 October, General Habib (Jumbesh) was captured at a checkpoint at the edge of Mazar city. Jumbesh then took over two police posts in the Chimtal and Dihdadi Districts. This resulted in increased troops and arms in this area. One vehicle of a national NGO, Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (CHA) was seized at the Chimtal checkpoint and a staff member beaten.
The increased tensions and fighting have resulted in a suspension of UN road missions to the west of the city - this means the roads from Mazar-Shibergan, Mazar-Balkh and Mazar-Sholgara, with only essential UN staff going into the Mazar office. The situation in Mazar city, however is reported as calm for now, except for the movement of Jamiat tanks last night out of the city to the western part of Balkh.
The Afghan Central Government is actively looking into the matter and the Minister of the Interior Ali Ahmad Jalali is leaving for Mazar this morning.
Fighting in Maimana
On Tuesday there was fighting between Jamiat and Jumbesh in Maimana in Faryab Province. This began early in the morning and is reported to have stopped one to two hours later. This fighting then resumed again at around 9:00 a.m. and lasted for two more hours. Jumbesh captured Jamiat bases in the city and casualties again are yet to be confirmed. All this information is based on reports that reach our offices and as I said some of these details - such as the number of casualties for instance - have to be verified.
Workshop to Address Child Trafficking in Northeast
A one-day workshop on the abduction and illegal trafficking of children in the northeast began today in the provincial capital of Kunduz. Participants include representatives of the provincial Government, the police as well as Justice Departments. UNAMA, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), International Organization of Migration (IOM) and the NGO Child Fund Association (CFA) will also take part in this workshop. They will pool experiences and information in an effort to develop a joint mechanism for protection of children from trafficking and appropriate preventative measures to halt this inhumane practice. A similar workshop will also be held in Takhar on Saturday, 11 October.
The need for this workshop and for tackling this problem was again brought light on Tuesday when there was an attempted abduction of a 14-year old boy in Badakshan, who fortunately managed to escape while being taken to Takhar. He is now back with his family and the police are looking for the perpetrators. Reports point to a series of abductions of children as young as four years old since early 2003 in Kunduz, Takhar and Badakshan. To date some 80 children have been reported as missing.
Police Patrolmen Training to Begin on Saturday
Five hundred patrolmen will begin a training course on Saturday (11 October) at the Ministry of Interior's Afghan Police Central Training Centre in Kabul. This is the first eight-week training programme targeted at patrolmen being organized by the Ministry funded by the United States.
The course covers basic policing skills such as patrolling, investigations, how to stop vehicles as well as democratic policing and human rights. The patrolmen will be trained by some of the 150 Afghan police instructors who have themselves completed the Instructor Development Course. This course, which is also part of the US police training initiative, has so far trained police from Kabul, Balkh, Gardez, Kunduz and Bamyan. It is run by a team from the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden and Slovenia. Those who have done the instructors course will go on to train other policemen at the Kabul training centre and at the regional centres around the country once they have been set up. The first of these regional centres is expected to be ready in Gardez by the end of this year. Other such centres will be established in bamyan, Kunduz, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Jalalabad.
Afghanistan to Revive Telecommunications and Postal Services
On Tuesday the World Bank's International Development Association approved a US$22 million credit for Afghanistan to further strengthen ongoing efforts to improve telecommunications services throughout the country. The credit will support an Emergency Telecommunications Project that will be implemented over a four-year period by the Ministry of Communications (MoC).
The project will help develop a government communications network linking Kabul ministries to the provinces. It will encourage the growth of private competition among telecommunications networks and services and among other things provide investment and technical assistance resources to the MoC. It will also help develop a government intranet; support basic postal services; and strengthen government institutions.
The new financing builds upon assistance the World Bank and other donors have already provided to the communications sector in Afghanistan. Existing World Bank grants have supported the licensing of two mobile telephone operators. Through other donors, rehabilitation of post offices is underway, including centres in Bamyan, Kunar, Kabul and Parwan. A national satellite network has been funded and expansion of digital phone services in 17 provinces has begun. A microwave link to the eastern provinces and Pakistan is also being procured. Eight centres for information, communication and technology (ICT) training have been established in Kabul as well.
To date Afghanistan has an average of just two telephones per 1,000 people, which ranks among the lowest coverage in the world. The majority of Ministries in Kabul, along with most provincial capitals, have extremely limited access to telecommunications and the internet.
Taloqan Salt Iodization Plant to Open Today
Iodized salt, a simple but crucial approach to preventing Iodine Deficiency Disorders such as goitre and mental retardation, is now more readily available in the North with the inauguration today of a salt iodation plant in Taloqan.
Located near the Takcha Khanna salt mine in Taloqan, the plant has the capacity to produce 40 metric tonnes of iodized salt per day, and meet the needs of the populations of Takhar, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Baghlan and parts of Samangan Provinces.
The establishment of the Taloqan plant is a result of an ongoing cooperation between the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Mines and Industries, and local cooperatives of salt producers. UNICEF assists in this process with both technical and material input.
Until this year, almost no salt was iodized in Afghanistan. The Taloqan facility is the second to be opened in the country in 2003, after the opening in March of a plant in Kabul with the capacity to meet the iodized salt needs in all of Kabul and approximately 20 percent of surrounding rural areas.
Effects of iodine deficiency include goitre, miscarriage, and hearing impairment. Iodine deficiency may also reduce average IQ by as much as 10 to 15 percentage points.
There is press release available at the side of the room
Agreement Signed Outlines Detailed Procedures for DDR Process
A directive outlining the basic principles of how the process of Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) will be implemented was signed on Wednesday (8 October) between Afghanistan's New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
ANBP Programme Director Sultan Aziz signed on behalf of ANBP while Lieutenant General Atiqullah Baralai signed for the MOD. The International Observer Group (IOG) was represented by Nobutaka Miyahara of the Japanese Embassy.
The DDR Directive was developed by the MOD and ANBP and sets out in detail the procedures for carrying out DDR and the roles and responsibilities of the different parties involved.
DDR will decommission military formations and units up to a total of 100,000 officers and soldiers and in the process collect, store and deactivate weapons currently in their possession in order to be able to reconstruct the Afghan National Army (ANA) and return those not required to civilian life.
Security Council Mission to Visit Afghanistan
A very senior level delegation representing the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council will visit Afghanistan from 31 October - 8 November.
Among the several important objectives of this mission, is a review progress of the peace process; observe the operations of UNAMA and ISAF; a review of the humanitarian and human rights situation and to review the implementation of the Kabul Declaration on Good Neighbourly Relations. The mission will also underscore the international community's unwavering commitment to the peace and reconstruction process in Afghanistan and convey a strong message to regional and factional leaders about the need to reject all violence and support the implementation of the Bonn Agreement.
The German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger will lead the mission. Although the programme has not been finalized the mission is so far scheduled to visit Kabul, Herat, Kandahar and Mazar-i-Sharif. At the invitation of the Government of Pakistan, before coming here the mission will also go to Islamabad to hold meetings.
UNHCR Spokesperson, Maki Shinohara
First Return Convoy Leaves Kandahar Headed North
This week the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is organizing the first voluntary return of internally displaced people from the south to the north. Thirty-six families (189 people) left Kandahar on Monday in 11 vehicles and yesterday reached Herat. They will proceed today to their villages of origin in Morghab and Gormash areas in Badghis province in north-western Afghanistan.
The returning families will receive agricultural kits (seeds, shovel, sickle, watering can), plastic sheets, tents, lanterns, soap, hygiene cloths, family kits from UNICEF (spoons, bucket, cups, soap, bowl and plates) and WFP wheat flour.
Many of these families have fled the northern province nearly two years ago and were staying in Zhare Dasht settlement or makeshift camps in Kandahar (Animal Market). They are all Pashtuns who had been harassed out of their homes at the time of the fall of the Taliban or caught in factional fighting.
Many more families have expressed their wish to return this year, but UNHCR could not facilitate their return while fighting was on-going in the Badghis province earlier this year. With tension between factions subsiding and lowering level of harassment in the villages, as well as the easing of drought conditions, UNHCR has begun helping since summer many displaced people to return to Badghis province, mainly from camps in Herat.
UNHCR hopes to continue with the voluntary return movement from the south to the north, but there are still specific areas in the north that we cannot recommend for return due to on-going conflict between factions or human rights abuses.
There is an estimated 220,000 internally displaced people in Afghanistan, including some 140,000 in the southern provinces.
Questions and Answers
Q: Can you tell us about the casualties in the fighting in the north - about reports of 60 casualties?
Spokesman: I don't have numbers to confirm to you. I saw the news reports but unfortunately I cannot confirm any of those numbers.
Q: Can you give us your opinion on how it will affect the disarmament process. And is there any link between the outbreaks of fighting and the start of DDR?
Spokesman: Well I certainly hope not. In any case as you know the DDR will begin with a pilot phase. The first area considered is not one where the fighting is taking place. In that sense and from a geographic point of view there should be no relationship. Evidently any fighting in the country is of great concern; above all because it affects the Afghans. You have people who live in those areas who suffer from this - either through [loss of] their own lives or the tremendous destruction of the economic lives of these communities. It also has implications for the [peace] process itself. I just read you one of the objectives of the Security Council Mission that is coming here. One of them is exactly that [to convey a strong message to regional and factional leaders about the need to reject all violence and support the implementation of the Bonn Agreement]. The efforts of the Afghan leadership/authorities, with the support of the international community are to stabilize the country. It is therefore absolutely essential that those who hold power in their own regions are mindful of that and are committed to a better future for this country, to reconstructing it and to listening to what their people are saying. They [the Afghan people] are fed up with war and violence and they want tranquility and [the chance] to rebuild their lives. Clearly they cannot do that if people continue to fight.
Q: Earlier the UN said the people of Afghanistan should judge the MOD reform. Now DDR is going to start on 18 October. Does this mean the UN is convinced that the people of Afghanistan are happy with the reform of the MOD?
Spokesman: It means that we have good indications that it is a good first step. Evidently a first step requires other things to follow in order to build further on the process. In many ways, when you are in a position of post conflict, what you are doing is implementing incremental steps, which you build upon with a final objective in mind. That is what we are trying to do.
Q: We've heard there have been changes in the plans of DDR, reducing the duration from three years to one year and using force to disarm instead of doing it voluntarily?
Spokesman: I will not ask what your source is but I think you should check it. I have not heard that and it makes no sense to me. First of all the use of force is not a consideration. Disarmament is a voluntary exercise. In terms of timeframe, I think what has been talked about in the past when there was some reference to a time frame was that three years included the reintegration process. Disarmament has its own time frame but of course reintegration goes well beyond disarmament because it is a longer process. So maybe there is some confusion there regarding that.
Q: Do you know whether disarmament will start on 18 or 25 October?
Spokesman: I don't have a date. I think the president will have to announce that. We are hoping that it will still be this month, but I don't have a date to announce to you - the President has to do that. I think he will be issuing a decree, which will have a clear date.
Q: Can you give us a sense from what you know - is the fighting that has broken out this time [in the north] worse than previous times? Is there something different this time? And what about the role of the international community and UNAMA in this?
Spokesman: We just have preliminary reports as this thing happened yesterday. Judging by those preliminary reports, however, it looks worse. Tanks have been used which we have not seen in a long time. Of course I am saying this pending further reports. But judging by what we have just seen it looks worse.
There is a limit of just what the international community can do when the parties want to fight. These two parties have two leaders who are responsible for their forces, for the fighting and also for stopping the fighting. It is their responsibility.
Q: You said the UN and the PRT have stopped activities in the north?
Spokesman: No we have not stopped activities. I did not say that. I am glad you have raised this to avoid any misunderstandings. The only office that is affected by this is the Mazar office, which continues to operate with essential staff. Because of the fighting we are not able to move to the west of the city and on the roads that go out from the west. That's the extent of it. Regarding the PRT - and I cannot speak on their behalf - but they continue to be in Mazar and are present.
Q: The PRT is supposed to bring peace. How long have they been working in Mazar? And does the current situation constitute a failure on their part?
Spokesman: Of course not. It is failure of the commanders who control these forces. It's their failure. You should look and point your fingers at the right places.
Q: For one year they have been talking about disarmament in the north, so has UNAMA and the Security Commission failed already?
Spokesman: We have always reported about these disarmament efforts in the north. We have always told you that it is not part of the national DDR programme but that it is a local initiative of the north. And we have also told you that this was an initiative brought about by the factions of the north. We have supported such initiatives, in spite of the fact that they were not always firm - but that we have also reported to you. Weapons were not always collected in great numbers and arms collected one day seemed to find their way back on the next. But in spite of these difficulties and problems, these initiatives did bring a sense of some degree of tension reduction and tranquility for the population. We cannot forget that the ultimate goal is the Afghan people and a better society. And the initiatives did bring a sense of improvement although temporary in certain cases. Evidently what is taking place now is one of these down periods. In fact I have described it to you more than once in the past as having one more hiccup. Evidently this is a big one - judging by the preliminary report. We don't have full details as yet but it is indeed of great concern and more so to the people who live there. And they should be our greatest concern.
Guest at Briefing
Today we have special guest for you. She is Maria Pia Dradi and is the Chief of operations of the United Nations Population Fund who will talk to you about The State of the World Population Report: 2003. Also present in the room is the Director-General of Healthcare and Promotion at Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).