HEADQUARTERS PRESS BRIEFING BY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Kenzo Oshima reported to correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon on his recent mission on behalf of the Secretary-General to the Central Asian Republics of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan.  Mr. Oshima said that despite remarkable dedication and risks being taken by Afghan national staff engaged in humanitarian assistance inside Afghanistan, despite contingency planning by the United Nations and non-governmental organizations and the continued support of many donors, the basic needs of Afghans were still not being addressed in a satisfactory manner.  The situation remained critical.

Noting that the three Central Asian countries neighboured Afghanistan to the north, he said he had looked into ways of improving the flow of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan from each of those countries through cross-border operations.  The northern and northeastern provinces in Afghanistan were among the most vulnerable in the country –- and were not getting as much media attention as the refugee areas close to Pakistan and Iran.  A lot also needed to be done to address the refugee problems to the south and the west.  He was pleased that the three countries had agreed to steps that would help achieve that objective.

He said Turkmenistan had agreed to the establishment of two humanitarian offices for logistical and management support purposes close to its border with Afghanistan, thus facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance.  In Uzbekistan, the Government, for the first time since 1988, had agreed to allow the United Nations to use the Termez port for barges that could move up to 1,000 tons of humanitarian items into Afghanistan.  The Termez airport was also available for stockpiling goods.  That corridor offered tremendous potential for increasing delivery into priority areas.  He had visited Termez to see the facilities there and observed that they were all functional.

In Tajikistan, the Government had agreed to open a crossing for delivery assistance into Konduz Province.  If necessary, the Government would also allow air operations from two airports for delivery of goods into Afghanistan.  With respect to details that needed to be worked out, he said he was collaborating with the three governments and talking with Afghan authorities to put practical arrangements into place.  Winter was approaching and it was necessary to move quickly.  New delivery routes would help humanitarian agencies to reach more people in Afghanistan.

Regarding the southern part of Afghanistan, he said the World Food Programme (WFP) had on Tuesday resumed deliveries from Quetta.  That would boost assistance to the Kandahar region and to Herat in the west.

Continuing, he said it was necessary to differentiate between the various regions.  Humanitarian agencies faced different challenges in different parts of

the country.  In Kandahar, the breakdown in law and order had prevented

  the distribution of items to the surrounding districts for several weeks.  They were still able to deliver assistance in the Kabul area but in the north, in Mazur e Sharif, supplies had essentially run out and hundreds of thousands in the area were no longer being assisted.

Outlining his major concerns regarding the delivery of assistance, he said there were more than 6 million people in need of assistance.  An average of 52 thousand metric tons per month, or 1,700 metric tons per day, needed to be shipped and distributed to people in need.  It had been possible to increase shipments in the past three weeks to 1,400 metric tons each day, but that was still below target level.  Humanitarian agencies needed to be able to distribute the goods inside the country.  In October they had been able to distribute about one-third of the available supplies.  While the opening up of additional corridors from northern Central Asian republics was promising, a major bottleneck at the moment limited the ability to distribute inside the country.  Various ways and means were being looked at to overcome restraints.  They included bypassing urban hubs and delivering goods directly to northern and central highlands and rural areas.  For delivery to be successful, however, practical arrangements needed to be put in place as early as possible.

Another concern, he said, was that internally displaced people were not able to move towards the border areas.  Before 11 September there had been 1 million known internally displaced persons, with high concentrations in the west and north.  There was concern about their ability to survive the next few months.  That concern now extended to the newly displaced people -- where they were, the conditions in which they lived and what they needed.  That was a difficult situation to assess, given the security situation, the limited staff available and the limited means of communication with staff on the ground.

His third concern was that all borders remained officially closed.  That meant that a large number of people who wanted to flee were trapped inside Afghanistan.  The conditions in the makeshift camps close to the borders were extremely poor and dangerous.  Cases of extreme malnutrition and disease among children and women were being reported.  Asylum seekers were afraid of forced conscription and banditry.  He had been urging the Taliban and the Pakistani officials to let those people cross the border.

Asked to elaborate on problems of law and order, he said the situation was precarious in many parts of the country.  Kandahar and other places where hostilities had been intensified had problems of law and order.  Asked whether that was the result of an increase in conflict between opposition forces or a breakdown of Taliban control, he replied it was probably due to a combination of those factors.

A correspondent asked if a bombing halt would make a difference to the supply before winter set in.  He responded that any ongoing military activities affected the ability to supply humanitarian assistance.  At the same time humanitarian efforts must be stepped up while trying to protect the lives of civilians and humanitarian workers.  Bombing was a constraint but it was one of

Oshima Briefing                     - 3 -                   1 November, 2001

several constraints.  Ending the bombing would help but that was not the whole story.  Two sides needed to agree in order to have secure conditions.

Asked for an estimate of the number of displaced people, he said he had reason to believe that that number of internally displaced persons had increased since 11 September but he had no precise figures.  His Office was trying to assess the number of newly internally displaced people.

Replying to a question about how many of the supplies were being lost to the Taliban military, he stressed that humanitarian agencies were operating in a less than perfect environment.  He had talked to the authorities in control of the areas -- Taliban and Northern Alliance authorities -- where assistance needed to be delivered to be sure that assistance got in and was delivered to those in need.  There might be cases where supplies fell into Taliban hands, but generally, reports from the field said that the items reached people who needed them.

Did he think it was right that many Americans did not feel much sympathy for Afghanistan, inasmuch as 5,000 civilians were killed at the Trade Center?  Americans felt they were responding to the terrorist attack.  Could he reconcile that with what he might be hearing in the region?  He said he hoped there was balanced information on the killing of civilians.  The killing of civilians was to be avoided, but the fact was that a lot of banditry and looting of United Nations offices and destruction of warehouses, removal of property and the harassment of aid workers also hampered assistance.

Asked if his office was working on any extra measures of security, he said that how humanitarian agencies operated depended on where they were.  Conditions varied from province to province and region to region.  They tried to address each specific situation on the ground.

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