PRESS BRIEFING ON HUMANITARIAN SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN

In the last three to four weeks, the efforts of United Nations humanitarian agencies in Afghanistan have been “remarkably successful”, Kevin Kennedy, Chief of the Humanitarian Emergency Branch of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing today.  He said the main problem that faced relief agencies at the moment was not in getting food and other materials into the country, but in the distribution of relief supplies once they had reached Afghanistan’s major hubs.

He said he was cautiously optimistic that United Nations relief agencies would be able to increase the amount of materials for distribution within Afghanistan in the near future.  The amount of food the World Food Programme (WFP) had been able to distribute was a good barometer for judging the success of relief operations in Afghanistan to this point.  It was remarkable that since

15 October the WFP had been able to deliver 51, 000 metric tonnes of food into the country, considering that the target amount had been 52,000 metric tonnes for that time period.  Yesterday, from Uzbekistan alone, the WFP had been able to bring in 200 Metric tonnes of food and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had brought in blankets and emergency shelter materials.

The problem, he continued, had not been in getting materials into the major hubs of Afghanistan such as Kabul and Herat, but in the subsequent distribution of those materials to less accessible areas.  Humanitarian agencies had been and were continuing to try to devise a strategy to avoid major hubs by distributing supplies directly to Afghan non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who would then distribute the supplies within the interior.

In the last few days, with “dramatic changes” taking place on the ground, Afghan truckers were taking a “trucking pause” like the brief one they took when bombing began in October.  The pace of deliveries had not yet picked up, but he hoped it would do so again in the next day or two.  There were various causes for the problem in distributing materials within Afghanistan, he said.  Among them were the concerns of local staff for their families in a fluid environment, the diversion of trucks for other purposes, problems of communication and the fact that some aid offices had been occupied.

Information concerning the movements of the internally displaced within Afghanistan was incomplete and anecdotal, he said.  There were indications that some internally displaced persons were returning from remote areas to cities, and that some refugees were returning to the country.  The scale of the movements could not be considered a “flood”.

Eight United Nations staff members from agencies such as WFP, UNHCR, UNICEF and the OCHA had been able to re-establish a United Nations humanitarian presence in Faizabad.  He hoped that the same would happen in other major locations soon, but noted that concerns for the security of United Nations staff in the present

situation remained high.  In addition to re-establishing a presence, humanitarian agencies were hoping to be able to soon turn their thoughts to future humanitarian operations in Afghanistan once the situation stabilized.

The WFP, for example, intended to begin a one-month general wheat distribution programme to conflict-affected urban families and also hoped to distribute packages to internally displaced persons.

Landmines were one foreseeable obstacle to all of these efforts, he continued.  Landmines were a “major” concern not only to internally displaced persons, but also to everyone in the country, which was one of the most heavily mined in the world.  Landmines killed or injured 300 persons per month in Afghanistan.  The Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan calculated that 734 million square meters of the country were mined and that 500 million square meters of that area could be considered “heavily mined”.

A correspondent asked whether, considering that WFP was already close to its target levels of food distribution, it was possible to improve upon those levels and were there plans to increase the amount of humanitarian aid now that the north of the country was more or less safe?  Mr. Kennedy explained that areas that humanitarian agencies had been unable to reach -- such as the Central Highlands and the North-Central region -- were of primary concern.  If agencies were able to deliver aid to such places, they would be able to solve one of the major problems facing Afghanistan.  More food than the 52,000 metric tonnes per month mentioned before would need to be delivered, in order to replenish food stocks and to be used for such purposes as WFP’s work-for-food programmes.

A correspondent wanted to know whether the humanitarian situation in Kandahar had become particularly acute since it had become the focus of fighting.  Mr. Kennedy said Kandahar had been a major hub for distribution, but that United Nations humanitarian agencies were not using it now, because of the recent developments in that area.  Before Kandahar became the focus of fighting, aid needs there were being met.  There had been a problem bringing relief supplies there because the Taliban had controlled the most direct route between Kandahar and a border crossing from Pakistan, but those problems had been resolved about 10 days ago.  Before then, humanitarian aid had been reaching Kandahar from the north of the country.

Like the rest of Afghanistan, Kandahar had been suffering from major humanitarian problems for years.  Prior to 11 September, United Nations had plans to deliver food to 5.5 million of the 22 million people within Afghanistan, in addition to aiding 3 million Afghan refugees in the region.

Mr. Kennedy was asked if there were any plans for refugees to return to Afghanistan.  All United Nations humanitarian agencies and NGOs operating in Afghanistan had, he said, been making contingency plans for the return of refugees.  UNHCR surely had plans to handle a refugee return if and when that came

about, and would require additional materials to resettle those people properly.  Because of the speed at which the situation had been changing, it was necessary for agencies to revise their plans constantly.

A correspondent wanted to know with whom the humanitarian agencies negotiated in order to gain access to various regions within Afghanistan.  Mr. Kennedy told him that United Nations humanitarian agencies had been and would be dealing with all parties to the conflict.  In the current, rapidly-changing situation, United Nations agencies would be dealing with anyone that they had to, in order to deliver assistance to those in need, just as they had been for more than 20 years.

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