HEADQUARTERS PRESS BRIEFING BY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR,

MINE-ACTION SERVICE HEAD

Worst-case scenario figures for the refugee outflow implied that

5 to 6 million people would require food in Afghanistan through the winter, correspondents were told this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing by Caroline McAskie, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, and Martin Barber, head of the Mine-Action Service.

Concerning the refugee situation, Ms. McAskie informed correspondents that discussions with Pakistan and Iran continued on the preparation for potential refugee flows.  Given the generosity of the international community and the assurances that those Governments would be assisted, she believed that if refugees came in large numbers they would be able to get across the borders.  In fact, the Pakistani Government had already identified 32 sites in the north-west Province and another five in Baluchistan.  Iran had identified 10 sites, five on the Iranian side and five on the Afghan side, as well as a couple of others further south. 

The World Food Programme had resumed delivery of food into Kabul after deliveries had temporarily been halted during the bombing, she said.  A

200-metric-ton convoy had reached Kabul after the second round of bombing.  In addition to that, 400 metric tons had come from Turkmenistan into the North, and another 525 metric tons had arrived in Herat.  The convoys were stocking high protein biscuits in areas where refugees were expected.  However, the large-scale needs were 55,000 metric tons per month in order to supply vulnerable Afghans for the winter.  At the moment, there was enough food inside Afghanistan for the next three to four weeks.

Concerning mine action, any unplanned population movement along routes that were unmarked added risks to the lives of individuals, Martin Barber told correspondents.  People moving out from the major cities into the countryside were at risk as they crossed borders at unmarked crossing points.  In addition, there were tremendous risks when refugees had put up camps and started to look for firewood and water supplies.  Those were situations when people would come across mines, he said.

He added that with an upsurge in fighting and new types of bombardment, there was an increase in danger from unexploded ordnance.  Ground fighting also tended to lead to the laying of mines.  The Taliban had issued a statement a couple of years ago saying that they would not use mines in the future.  He hoped to see a statement from all parties to the conflict that they did not intend to use landmines in the present conflict.

In response to a question as to the position of the four people who had died in yesterday's bombing, he said they were security guards employed by ATC (Afghan Technical Consultants), the non-governmental organization carrying out mine action in Afghanistan.  It had worked exclusively with funding provided by the United Nations and employed over 1,100 Afghans.  He did not know whether there had been

any special buildings nearby; the site where the mine clearance centre was located was 3 kilometres from the city-centre of Kabul.

A correspondent asked whether the United Nations had provided Washington with the precise locations and addresses of United Nations offices and associated organizations.  The United Nations was entirely transparent, Mr. Barber said; its locations and activities were public knowledge and indicated with flags and signs.  He added that information on the location of specific offices had been passed on to relevant authorities. 

Asked about the validity of the Taliban pledge not to use landmines, and whether the pledge implied that they had stocks of mines to use, he said that all forces in Afghanistan had stocks of landmines available for their use.  Evidence suggested that the pledge had been respected in the last couple of years. 

A correspondent asked if after 11 September the United Nations had been able to give advice about taking precautions against possible retaliatory strikes to the local humanitarian staff once the international staff had been pulled out.  Ms. McAskie said that there was a concern about the safety of local staff.  The first thing had been to make sure that local staff had enough money to survive for a certain time, by providing two to three months salary.  Under current United Nations rules it was impossible to evacuate nationals out of their countries, although this would perhaps be reviewed.  National staff in Rwanda had suffered greatly and many had been massacred. 

In the case of Afghanistan, there had been no reason to believe that local staff would be personally vulnerable because of their association with the United Nations.  A letter had been sent, she said, explaining security measures to be taken.  Basically the message had been that the first priority had been to care for themselves.  Local staff were not asked to stand by United Nations equipment in fear of their own lives, she said.

When asked to estimate how many landmines existed in Afghanistan, and whether they would pose a threat to incoming ground troops, Mr. Barber said it was impossible to estimate.  Assessments ranged from 3 million to 30 million; nobody knew for sure.  One could estimate approximately what number of square kilometres were unusable because of the presence of landmines.  Mines made no distinction between civilians and military personnel, they were a risk to everyone. 

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