PRESS BRIEFING BY THE U.N. OFFICES FOR PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN (08 January 2002)

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s briefing at the United Nations Information Centre in Islamabad by the United Nations offices for Pakistan and Afghanistan (excluding question and answer session).

** Eric Falt, Director, UN Information Centre

Good afternoon. The Special Representative Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi met yesterday with the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Afghanistan, Kamal Hossein. Noting the recent efforts to set up a broad-based Afghan government, Mr. Hossein stressed at a press conference later in the day that conditions must be created in which “all voices can be heard.”

Mr. Hossein also emphasized the need for the transition process to move forward and to provide a sense of security for all Afghans. The rule of law must replace the rule of the gun, and a law regulating the use of force was needed, he said. The Special Rapporteur also drew attention to recent incidents that had taken place as control of different parts of Afghanistan changes hands, and said that inquiries into some incidents of reported violence were needed.

Regarding the Special Representative, he was also supposed to meet with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Bagram airport last night, but I do not have a read-out of that meeting.

** Einar Holtet, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan

Armed Taliban and banditry are effectively hampering humanitarian work in southern Afghanistan.

Insecure working conditions are creating bottlenecks for lifesaving humanitarian efforts in Kandahar and in vast areas North and West of the city. The administration in Kabul is facing a difficult task in the coming two months, that will be critical for humanitarian assistance, especially in remote areas, particularly in Hazarajat and areas as far west as Herat.

The International Organization of Migration has stepped up distribution of winter tents to internally displaced people in Herat – and also in the North – in Kunduz and Mazar-i-Sharif. In Herat, where there are five IDP camps with 250,000 people, delivery of 6,500 tents from Turkey will help overcome a temporary shortage. Re-registration of families in Maslakh and other camps is being planned.

Three checkpoints have been established and will give a more precise picture of new arrivals around Herat. Today I can give you the latest figure for new arrivals registered in Maslakh camp. In the first week of 2002, the new arrivals there were 1,068 families, 4,300 individuals. The new arrivals will be shifted to a new camp, Mir Daud, when it is ready to accept them.

** Chulho Hyun, Spokesperson for UNICEF

Good afternoon, everyone. UNICEF staff in Mazar, having recently identified 35 locations in the city where people have limited or no access to safe water, are working with local authorities to install a total of 100 hand-pumps at those sites. This is part of a
citywide emergency water supply program that UNICEF is supporting in the Northern Region of Afghanistan. Provision of safe drinking water and sanitary surroundings is a key way to improving the health of children, and is especially linked to the fight against infectious disease. Working to make sure that such access —currently varied across the country— is universal remains a critical, ongoing task.

This week, from UNICEF in Mazar, we are expecting to get a detailed look at the needs for water and sanitation activities in the civilian hospital, camps for internally displaced persons in the region, as well as in districts affected by drought. Those districts are in the provinces of Balkh, Jawzjan, Saripul, Faryab And Samangan.

The latest water supply wells to be drilled with UNICEF support in and Around Kabul, meanwhile, are at six locations. In the city, these include the Mariam Primary School and the Qala Najaran Community Center of Khair Khana, and the Khord Kabul sub-district of Kabul Province. The wells, also equipped with hand-pumps, are to provide some 2,400 people with access to safe drinking water.

And finally, an update on the measles vaccination drive, as additional vials of vaccine and syringes are heading out from Pakistan to various parts of Afghanistan where the campaign will expand in the coming weeks.

For instance, supplies for the Central and South Eastern regions will Leave Islamabad for storage facilities in Kabul, with immunization in Bamiyan City scheduled to begin on 10 January. From Islamabad and Peshawar, supplies are headed for Jalalabad. 41 districts in the Eastern Region will be covered in this month and next.

The campaign is also prepared to start in Kunduz and Takhar Provinces. While half a million doses of vaccines and same number of syringes have been in place in Herat since the weekend.

The Kabul portion has now reached more than 257,000 children, aged six months to 12 years. The coverage figures will be changing regularly, and we'll update you whenever possible.

One thing to note from the latest report received is that in the first four days of immunization in and around the Afghan capital, more than 80 per cent of children, under the age of five, were covered. Efforts are being doubled to ensure both a continuation of such rates, as well as solid coverage of children in the older bracket, as the lifesaving campaign continues. Thank you.

** Yusuf Hassan, Spokesperson for UNHCR

More Afghans have arrived in Pakistan today. Some 50 new families – about 250 people- have joined the 3,000 who have been camped out in the no man’s land at the Chaman border post near Quetta since Friday. UNHCR was today allowed to pre-registered 100 families and moved them to the Killi Faizo transit centre. Discussions are continuing with the border authorities to allow more of the people camping out into the nearby transit centre.

UNHCR continues to transfer urban refugees from Peshawar and Quetta as well as Jalozai makeshift site to new and better equipped Today, we shifted the largest number of Afghan refugees from Jalozai and Peshawar to the new camps located in the tribal areas of the North West Frontier province. A convoy of 29 buses ferried 1,844 refugees from Jalozai and Peshawar to the Shalman camp in Khyber agency. This brings to nearly 4,000 the number of Afghans who have been transferred to the new site since it opened on Saturday.

In Baluchistan, UNHCR today moved 1,813 refugees from Quetta to Mohammed Khail, which is about 75 kms south west of the provincial capital and another 80 families were shifted from Killi Faizo to Landi Karez camp.

Since November 2001, UNHCR has moved more than 92,000 new arrivals, 68,400 in Baluchistan and 23,700 in North West Frontier Province into newly established camps in Pakistan. Some 3, 327 refugees remain in the Killi Faizo transit centre near the Chaman border crossing.

** Wagdi Othman, Spokesperson for WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme has started today distributing food to some 53,000 families (318,000 people) in Herat, in northwestern Afghanistan. About 78 percent of the population of Herat estimated at 430,000 people, will receive the much needed food assistance.

According to our staff in Herat, people in the city are confronted with very difficult living conditions. Thousands of people are jobless or are begging on the streets. There are also a great number of widows.

The citywide food distribution is taking place in Herat stadium over a period of 10 days, one day per district, to avoid overcrowding at the distribution site.

Tokens were already distributed to the selected families and every day announcements are made over Herat’s radio to invite 6,000 families to come and collect the food at the stadium following day.

WFP and its NGO partner World Vision are providing a 50 kg bag of wheat to each family. For this one-off food aid distribution, WFP has pre-positioned more than 2,600 metric tons of wheat.

For this distribution, WFP and World Vision have mobilized 500 staff members to do the distribution. The mayor of Herat is providing 350 security guards to prevent any disturbances. After receiving their food rations, children, women and old people are transported back to their homes by trucks.

Prior to this distribution, WFP and World Vision have hired an entirely female survey team - 250 women - many of whom previously worked as teachers, doctors, or staff for humanitarian agencies, while others had not worked in years.

After Kabul and Herat, WFP is preparing for a similar citywide food distribution in Mazar-e-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan.

For the period January to March 2002, WFP is planning to deliver to Afghanistan enough of cereals, lentils, oil, corn/soya blend and sugar to feed over 3 million people for 3 months.