TALKING POINTS

Update on the Loya Jirga

We almost finished all districts in phase I. There are about 22-25 of them to be concluded. This is information from last night. Some of those will be districts where the Commission will appoint the delegates due to a lack of conditions in the district for the selection process to be carried out. Regarding phase II we have concluded Mazar, Bamyan and Ghazni. Jalalabad should conclude today and Herat started phase II yesterday. The other areas still to go are Kandahar, Kunduz, the area of Gardez/Logar and Kabul. We are expecting all of these phase II to be finished around 5 June.

Detention of elected Delegates
Following up on last briefing on the situation in the west of the country, we are relieved that yesterday, Mr. Mohammad Rafiqi Shaheer, the head of the shura of professionals in Herat has been released. Unfortunately, that is not the end of the problems in the west. A teacher just elected as a delegate in phase II in the Qadis district in the province of Badghis has been arrested. We are looking into this matter.

Seminar and workshops for Delegates in the Jalalabad region
On a more positive note, a three-day seminar with workshops and round tables is being organised for all delegates elected in the Jalalabad region. That is due to run from 3-5 June and professors of Ningarhar University, NGO experts on human rights and members of the Commission will be making presentations on the following topics: the history of Afghanistan; the history of Loya Jirgas; Islam and women; ethnic make-up of Afghanistan; Islam and human rights; rules and proceedures of the Loya Jirga and the current political political situation and options for peace.

The local authorities are providing logistical support for this seminar which will provide elected delegates from the East with the opportunity to discuss and reflect upon very important issues in this country before they come to Kabul for the important decisions they have to make here during the Loya Jirga.

"New Home, New Life"
For those of you who follow Dari and Pashtu presentations of the soap opera "New Home, New Life", aired by the BBC. It has been going on for a number of years now. SRSG Lakhdar Brahimi will play himself in an episode to be aired on the first day of the Loya Jirga. He talks to the characters about the important role of the Afghan people in the decision making process in this country.

Accreditation procedures
Accreditation forms are available at the back of the room in English and Dari. Each individual wishing to apply for accreditation to the Loya Jirga should fully complete the form and return it together with a letter of assignment on official letterhead of your media organisation signed by the Editor or Bureau Chief. A photocopy of two photo identification should be attached. We do not want photographs.

The accreditation requests will be processed and we will start issuing the cards on Monday 3 June between 2.30 and 5.30 p.m. Each individual must come in person to pick up their cards, as they will have to be photographed. The accreditation form together with the information note is also available on the UN web site http://www.un.org/News/ under the Afghanistan section. The form can be completed and faxed to us here. The person in charge of this process in our office is Andreana Engler. The email address is engler@un.org.

UNFPA - Provision of Medical Facilities to Kabul Maternity Hospitals

On Tuesday, 28 May, The United Nations Population Fund, provided essential medical equipment and supplies, valued at over USD 200,000 to Kabul's two principal maternity care facilities, Malalay Maternity Hospital, and the Rabia Balkhi Women's Hospital.

This was in response to an urgent request from the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Sohaila Siddiq, and equipment ranged from basic items such as surgical gloves and gowns, to sophisticated equipment such as new ultrasound scanners to replace older machines which had been out of service for some time.

Ambulances for each of the facilities had veen provided earlier, and are now in daily use transporting patients to the hospital, and delivering major cases to other referral facilities when needed.

The material was procured and shipped to Afghanistan under a major emergency assistance project funded with contributions from the governments of Luxemburg, Italy, Holland and Norway.

UNESCO - FPA - Provision of Medical Facilities to Kabul Maternity Hospitals

At the back of the room there is a press release from UNESCO for those of you who did not have a chance to go to the press conference that they held yesterday along with the Ministry of Information and Culture at the conclusion of the seminar on Afghan Cultural Heritage. The press release gives a lot of details on what was discussed and most importantly, I am told that at the press conference time they did not yet have the pledges that were made so the press release details those.

UNICEF update on Rapid Assessment of Learning Spaces - Asako Saegusa

From the latest rapid assessment in two regions, as part of the ongoing Back-to-School initiative

As of today, UNICEF has received preliminary results from 38 districts (approx. 12 per cent of all districts): 10 from the province of Nangarhar (in Jalalabad area) and 28 from Mazar.

In Nangarhar, an initial screening of data indicates that in the 146 schools assessed, covering 60,830 students and 1,387 teachers, some 24 per cent of students are girls and 5 per cent of teachers are women.

A preliminary comparison with the assessment conducted before Back-to-School shows that there has been an increase of 17 per cent in the number of schools assessed (from 125 to 146); the total increase of students (boys and girls) is 18 per cent, while the number of girls has doubled (from 7,058 to 14,505).

In the Mazar region, partial results from four provinces cover 458 schools and 173,273 students of whom 54,882 are girls (32 per cent) and 118,391 are boys (68 per cent). There are 4,428 teachers: 1,053 are women (24 per cent) and 3,375 are men (76 per cent).

UNHCR is introducing a new system of cash grant

WFP update of school feeding initiative - Alejandro Chicheri

As you know, the school feeding project is a central component of our new nine-month US$285 million operation launched in April. Our aim is that up to one million children will be enrolled in the program by the time the Afghan school year ends in December.

Under the project, WFP is providing bread fortified with vital micronutrients to students each day at school. The ration is critical in combating the already documented cases of malnutrition, scurvy, and stunting among Afghan children. The program also alleviates short-term hunger and encourages school performance, enrollment and attendance particularly among girls.

The school feeding programme was launched in Kabul on March for 3,150 students in 3 schools. 11 women's bakeries initially established to provide bread to vulnerable families, increased production in order to supply bread to these schools participating in the Food For Education.

In rural areas the student's mothers will bake bread for the schools in their home tandoors (traditional afghan oven). The school feeding initiative is also expected to create jobs and contribute to women's economic self-reliance. In Kabul, 6,240 students of which 2,777 are girls, are now participating in the programme in four schools.

During May 47,878 new students have joined the programe in the new phase launched in Jalalabad and Kandahar. This number is expected to rise to 250,000 students countrywide, before the summer ends.

On the resources front WFP Afghanistan received confirmation from the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Kabul of a cash contribution of NOK 8,000,000 (approx. USD 975,000) towards our current Emergency operation. This cash contribution will rise the total amount received against the appeal to USD 106,130,383 and will help improve our pipeline allowing us to purchase grain regionally. However, the operation is still 48 percent under funded.

UNHCR update on returnees - Ragnhild Ek

By the end of today, UNHCR is expecting that more than 800,000 people will have returned to Afghanistan since the Afghan Interim Administration and UNHCR started the assisted return programme on 1 March, 3 months ago. Over 730,000 Afghan refugees from Pakistan, 60,000 from Iran and almost 10,000 from Tajikstan and Turkmenistan. UNHCR had planned on repatriating 800,000 this year and has started a planned mid-year review as the planning figure for the whole of 2002 has already been reached.

The return is the largest and fastest since 800,000 refugees returned to Kosovo in 1999. It has caught the international community by surprise, and strained aid agencies resources as well as the absorption capacity of the country.

UNHCR is concerned about our continued ability to assist and secure the return of the refugees. Only two thirds of UNHCRs budget is currently funded. We have received US$ 180 million out of the US$ 271 million needed from October last year to the end of 2002. The operation is presently in its most costly phase, and we are spending more than US$ 20 million a month. Additionally, in view of the large numbers of returnees it is likely that we will have to appeal for even more money.

At the distribution points in Herat, Kabul and Kandahar, UNHCR has been able to continue to give the full package to returnee families by substituting items as necessary, while our office in Jalalabad has been forced to ration items. Families who receive less than the full complement of items are given coupons redeemable as soon as stocks are available. The same is true of food. In Jalalabad, Kabul and Herat returnee families are currently only receiving 50 kg of wheat instead of 150 kg, which is a third of their return allowance. This week UNHCR received significant deliveries of much-needed relief items. For instance, 63,000 blankets were delivered to Kabul, and 49,300 to Herat, 21,600 to Kandahar and 12,600 to Jalalabad. Its first shipment of hurricane lanterns (18,192 pieces) has also reached Kabul. We have recently bought 90,000 metal buckets and 100 mt of soap locally. So far, UNHCR has distributed US $ 12 million in cash and provided aid packages of plastic sheets, blankets, buckets/jerry cans, hygienic kits and soap to the returnees.

The consequences of this huge return movement are that we only have funding until the end of June. If we do not receive significant contributions soon we will have to consider some very hard choices, for example to stop travel grants, or drastically reduce basic housing and water projects. In addition, if other humanitarian and recovery agencies are not able to provide much needed reintegration assistance quickly, the sustainability of this operation will be jeopardised.

Questions and Answers

Q: On the proceedure of accreditation, we will have people coming in on say 8 June will they be able to access the press centre?
Spokesman: Yes, but I hope that you will understand that if they arrive here on the 8th at the airport, they have to come here first and if 100 of you arrive here at the same time, we have to issue passes one by one. I am saying this because I have seen situations before and I understand that people arrive on their own schedule, excited to get to the press centre and they will not be able to put their foot inside the press centre without the accreditation.

Q: Some local staff may not be able to provide two photo identification. Should we just have a separate list for them or how do we handle this.
Spokesman: They have to have at least one.
Q cont: And where should we turn these in is it going to be at the press centre?
Spokesman: If you take a copy of the information note that goes with the accreditation form it will explain. You should hand it in here.

[Due to technical difficulties, the remainder of the Question & Answer session could not be transcribed however subjects covered were media accreditation procedures for the Loya Jirga and the funding situation of humanitarian agencies.]