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U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT BUREAU FOR DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE (DCHA) OFFICE OF U.S. FOREIGN DISASTER ASSISTANCE (OFDA) CENTRAL ASIA TASK FORCE CENTRAL ASIA REGION - Complex Emergency Situation Report #30, Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 April 26, 2002 International relief agencies, with support from the United States (U.S.), have long been active in providing humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, even during the restrictive years of the Taliban. On October 7, 2001, a Coalition-led military campaign against al-Qaeda and Taliban forces began, and by December 2001, the Taliban had collapsed. The new Afghan Interim Authority (AIA) was sworn in on December 22, 2001, increasing humanitarian access to the country and beginning the process of reconstruction. Tens of thousands of refugee and internally displaced families have started to return to their homes to assist in the rebuilding. The U.S. Agency for International Development's Disaster Assistance Response Team (USAID/DART), which began its emergency coordination work in response to the regional drought in June 2001, continues to assess the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Afghans, and to monitor the relief programs of its implementing partners. Afghanistan: Numbers at a Glance Refugee Returns Since January 1, 2002 (UNHCR) Internally Displaced Returns Since January 1, 2002 (IOM)
CURRENT SITUATION Political/Military. The first phase of the Loya Jirga process continued this week, as 11 more assemblies (shuras) convened to select district representives in the provinces of Badakshan, Balkh, Kunduz, Bamiyan and Kapisa. These representatives will in turn meet at the end of May to select their district's delegation to the Loya Jirga, to be held June 10-16 in Kabul. Over the coming weeks, each of the county's 381 districts will hold shuras. Eventually, 1,051 Afghans will be chosen to attend the Loya Jirga, with an additional 450 seats reserved for various Afghan institutions and groups. Members of the Special Independent Commission for the Convening of the Emergency Loya Jirga traveled to Pakistan and Iran this week to organize the selection process for 100 seats that are reserved for Afghan refugees. The first woman district representative was selected this week in Balkh Province. Security. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the AIA mission dispatched by Chairman Hamid Karzai to investigate persecution of minority Pashtuns in northern Afghanistan reported that the situation had improved. UNHCR is dispatching its own staff to monitor the situation in Badghis, Faryab, Balkh, Jawzjan, Samangan, Baghlan, Kunduz, and Takhar provinces. Authorities in Herat Province reportedly changed guards at Maslakh camp in response to allegations of harassment of Pashtun IDPs. Outbursts of factional fighting were reported in several areas
of the country. On April 24, fighting broke out in Khost city
between rival provincial police officials, killing three and injuring
several others. On April 23, the United Nations Assistance Mission
in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that UNHCR was forced to delay
return plans for IDPs to Laghman Province, due to armed clashes
that killed two people in the provincial capital Mehtar Lam. On
April 21, UNAMA reported ongoing factional fighting in Daikundi,
Uruzgan Province causing disruption to the polio vacccination
campaign. According to UNHCR, factional tension in Nimruz Province
continues to delay the opening of the Milak-Zaranj border crossing
with Iran. The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) reported that threats
targeted at U.N. staff reduced WFP movements to a minimum in the
eastern provinces. Mercy Corps recently notified UNHCR that it will stop its distribution of UNHCR-supplied non-food items to camps in the Chaman border area at the end of April due to a generally poor security situation, a lack of UNHCR protection officers in the area, and a concern about the overall UNHCR strategy for dealing with the crisis. Mercy Corps provides assistance to 75,000 of the 85,000 camp residents in the area. According to UNHCR, there are 40,000 Afghans in no man's land waiting to enter Pakistan at the Chaman border crossing outside the Killi Faizo transit camp. Other NGOs have similarly announced plans to withdraw from the Chaman area because of insecurity. On April 19, a spokesman for the U.S. military announced that its personnel in Afghanistan will modify their clothing when conducting relief work to include identifiable articles, patches, or pins distinguishing them from NGO humanitarian workers. The new policy follows a request to the U.S. by humanitarian organizations expressing concern that humanitarian workers could be targeted if mistaken for soldiers. Flood. According to UNAMA, on April 23 the heaviest rains in five years in Badghis Province caused flooding in Qala-i-Naw and Ab Kamari districts, killing two, leaving five missing, and resulting in the destruction of 500 homes and shops. In Qala-i-Naw and eight surrounding villages, the flooding affected some 1,200 people, with another 3,000 Afghan IDP and refugee returnees temporarily stranded at the Qala-i-Naw reintegration center on their journey home. The road between Herat and Qala-i-Naw, a major supply route to Badghis Province, was initially cut off by flooding, but is now passable, though heavily damaged. Several lesser roads to surrounding villages have been destroyed. Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), such as the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and World Vision, have responded to the flooding by providing 800 tents, 4,000 blankets, 2,000 family packs, 2,000 pieces of clothing, 4,000 sleeping bags, 300 soap bars, and 30 metric tons (MTs) of food. The U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have provided emergency medical supplies. A WFP assessment of flood-affected areas found 80 percent of irrigated land submerged by floodwaters, jeopardizing the upcoming harvest. UNAMA reported that humanitarian assistance in the region is sufficient to meet the relief needs of victims of the flood. Locusts. UNAMA reports that locusts have been hatching in Baghlan, Samangan, and Kunduz provinces, traditional locust areas in what is the most severe case of infestation in 30 years. In Faryab, Takhar, and Badakshan provinces, eggs have not yet begun to hatch due to the higher altitude, and in Jowzjan Province, egg beds were destroyed this year by sandstorms. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with USAID/OFDA support and in cooperation with the AIA, local authorities, and international organizations, is coordinating a program of manual and chemical eradication to minimize damage to crops. Manual eradication involves digging trenches around the infested areas, herding the locusts in, and burying them. Up to 20,000 Afghan volunteers are active in the effort. The manual operation will be followed up by chemical spraying, especially in rocky or inaccessible areas. Food Aid and Logistics. Since October 2001, WFP, with support from USAID, has delivered 430,586 MT of food into Afghanistan, of which 342,651 MT has been distributed throughout the country, assisting some 6.6 million food-insecure Afghans. WFP has conducted more than 60 rapid assessment missions in Afghanistan over the past few weeks. The findings indicate an increased need for food aid in the pre-harvest hunger period of April, May and June. WFP reported that malnutrition persists, the sale of household assets continues, and more children are being pushed into the labor market to support their families. WFP's target is to provide 280,000 MT of food assistance to an estimated nine million people until the harvest in July. According to WFP, the final distribution of bags of wheat at Maslakh Camp near Herat took place last week. In the future, IDPs remaining in the camp will receive daily bread supplied by WFP bakeries inside the camp, as well as oil and pulses, and porridge for the children. IDPs choosing to return to their homes from the camp will receive a reintegration package including 100 kgs of wheat, 50 kgs of seeds, 40 kgs of fertiliser, and 30 high-energy biscuits. More than 100,000 of the most vulnerable people in central Nuristan Province in the east will receive a distribution of three months' food aid, following the completion of a WFP survey in the area. The survey revealed that over 90 percent of the total population possess less than one jerib of land and have lost roughly half its livestock. Cereal production this year failed in this area. Some 40,000 people are scheduled to receive food aid next week through food-for-work projects. IDPs and Refugees. UNHCR, the AIA, and the NGO community are preparing for the anticipated return this summer of up to 1.2 million Afghan refugees and IDPs (approximately 400,000 refugees from Pakistan, 400,000 refugees from Iran, and 400,000 IDPs in Afghanistan). According to UNHCR, more than 353,000 Afghans have been assisted in returning home in the eight weeks since UNHCR and the AIA began their voluntary repatriation program in coordination with neighboring governments. UNHCR reports that more than 327,000 Afghans have returned from Pakistan since its program began March 1. Ninety percent of the returnees pass through the Takhtabaig voluntary repatriation center near Peshawar, Pakistan. An estimated 40 percent are destined for urban centers in Afghanistan. There are three official border crossing points, at Nawa Pass and Torkham in the north and Spin Boldak in the south. UNHCR reported that 39.0 percent of the returnees from northern Pakistan are going back to Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan, 38.7 percent to Kabul Province, 5.7 percent to Parwan Province in central Afghanistan, 3.5 percent to Jowzjan Province in the north, 2.9 percent to Laghman Province in the east, and 9.2 percent to other provinces. This week a record number of Afghans were processed through the Puli-Charki returnee distribution center outside Kabul. Some 21 percent of the Afghan refugees from southern Pakistan are returning to Kunduz Province in the north, 20 percent to Kabul, and 16 percent to Kandahar Province in the south. The NGO Mercy Corps reports that up to 90 percent of the returnees arriving in Kandahar Province are only transitting the area, while the remaining few are settling in Kandahar city. The rural areas in the south are not reporting large numbers of returns. According to UNHCR, more than 17,000 Afghans have returned from Iran through the northern Islam Qala crossing point at Dogharun since its program began on April 9. Each day at the Soleimankhani center in Tehran, more than 1,000 Afghans refugees are registering to leave Iran and return home. UNHCR is working to identify a second registration site in Tehran. Other centers in Iran are located in Mashad, Zahedan, Qom, Esfahan, Kerman, Shiraz, Yazd and Arak. An estimated half of the returnees are traveling to Herat Province, around 20 percent to Kabul, and the remainder to Ghazni, Kunduz, Loghar and Wardak provinces. The Milak-Zaranj border crossing in the south remained closed due factional unrest in Nimruz Province, although UNHCR reported this week that the crossing may open shortly. Afghan refugees in Turkmenistan, estimated to number 6,000, are also being assisted in returning home. UNHCR reported that 18 refugees returned home from Turkmenistan this week, ahead of the anticipated rate of 50 per month. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), through its completed program of voluntary return from the islands of the Pyandj River along the Tajik-Afghan border, assisted 8,918 Afghans to make the short journey by barge back to Kunduz Province. IOM and UNHCR have assisted the return home of more than 90,000 IDPs since January, with 51,000 of these returns being made to nine northern provinces. IOM this week completed the return of 14,625 IDPs from the old Soviet compound in Kabul to the Shomali Plain. Since April 1, IOM in Mazar-e-Sharif has assisted 11,958 persons to return to their homes in northern Afghanistan, bringing the total number of IDPs returned from camps in and around Mazar-e-Sharif to 29,306. In Herat, IOM has assisted 34,525 IDPs from Maslakh, Shaidayee and Rawzabagh IDP camps and from the former Central Policlinic in the centre of Herat to return to their homes in Herat and Badghis provinces. An additional 20,000 IDPs living in Maslakh Camp have registered with IOM to return home. From the central Bamiyan Province, more than 2,000 mostly ethnic Hazara Afghans have returned to 13 villages in the Shaighan Valley, Baghlan Province since April 22, following a campaign to clear area villages of land mines and unexploded ordnance. Over the coming days, UNHCR and its partners expect to return 7,500 persons from Bamiyan during the first phase of a three phase operation. This week, the first group of 2,000 IDPs began moving out of their tents at Hesar Shahi camp near Jalalabad, home to nearly 24,000 Afghans who fled war and drought. Some 13,000 camp residents have expressed a desire to return home immediately, some 3,600 said they would like to return at a later date, while 7,300 said they did not want to leave. The IDPs are returning to their villages in Kabul, Nangarhar, and Kunar Province. Returns to Laghman Province had to be put on hold due to security concerns in the region. On April 18, some 585 IDPs left the southeastern border town
of Spin Boldak for Ghazni and Paktika provinces, despite continuing
reports of instability Health. With USAID/OFDA support, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) oversaw a three-day nationwide polio vaccination campaign April 16-18 targeting 5.8 million children younger than five years old, with the aim of eradicating the disease in Afghanistan by the end of 2002. Some 40,000 medics and volunteers trained by the AIA Ministry of Health and WHO went door-to-door seeking out children, with teams also operating at refugee and IDP camps, border crossings, and airports. Initial data from days one and two in major cities, such as Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, indicate that the number of vaccinations administered exceeded the target goal, due to a larger than expected returnee population. All districts around Gardez and Khost cities were covered, despite military action in that area. In Daikundi, Uruzgan province the immunization effort was hampered by factional fighting. The next national immunization campaign is scheduled to take place on May 26-28. USG HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE Background. On October 4, 2001, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina B. Rocca redeclared a complex humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan for FY 2002. To date, FY 2001 and FY 2002 USG humanitarian assistance for Afghans is provided by USAID/OFDA, Food for Peace (USAID/FFP), Democracy & Governance (USAID/DG), Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM), Department of State's Humanitarian Demining Program (State/HDP), the Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (State/INL), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The assistance is for displaced persons inside Afghanistan and Afghan refugees in neighboring countries. On March 26, 2002, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Robert P. Finn issued a disaster declaration due to the earthquake in Baghlan Province. USAID/OFDA responded by providing an additional $25,000 in Disaster Assistance Authority to ACTED, one of many USAID-funded grantees who are providing humanitarian assistance to the affected population. In Tajikistan, on October 10, 2001, U.S. Chargé d'Affaires James A. Boughner declared a disaster due to drought, and requested funds for a seed and fertilizer distribution program. USAID/OFDA responded by providing $998,180 through the U.S. Embassy to Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere (CARE) for the purchase and distribution of winter wheat seeds and fertilizer. USAID/OFDA ASSISTANCE Personnel. USAID/OFDA currently has one Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) based in Kabul to assess humanitarian activities and logistical capacity in the region. USAID/DART members coordinate with the humanitarian relief community and assess the humanitarian situation. New Actions. USAID/OFDA is providing $1,574,756 to AirServ in support of transportation services for the humanitarian community in Afghanistan and Pakistan. USAID/OFDA is providing $600,000 to GOAL in support of its shelter assistance, distribution of non-food items, and water and sanitation programs for IDPs in Samangan Province. The grant also supports GOAL in its locust eradication efforts in this province. USAID/OFDA is providing an additional $130,000 to the NGO Shelter for Life to complete their temporary shelter project for 21,000 beneficiaries in Maslakh camp in Herat. In March, USAID/OFDA provided a grant of $201,868 to Tufts University in support of Sue Lautz's mission to assess humanitarian conditions in southern and western Afghanistan. USAID/OFDA has provided an additional $93,467 to the NGO Save the Children Fund (SCF/US) in support of the assessment of humanitarian needs in southern and western Afghanistan. OTHER USG ASSISTANCE New Actions. On April 26, the U.S. Department of State's Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) announced a new $4.8 million contribution to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in support of programs assisting refugees and IDPs to return to their homes and reintegrate into their communities.
USG HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO CENTRAL ASIA USG AGENCY IMPLEMENTING PARTNER ACTIVITY REGION AMOUNT TAJIKISTAN - DROUGHT FY 2002
*Note: Detailed breakdowns of FY01 and FY02 assistance are available in previous Central Asia Region situation reports. **Note: State/PRM contributions include funding obligated to international organizations and NGOs in FY02, as well as new contributions to UN partners announced on April 2.
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