Misery increasing in western Afghanistan

Islamabad (Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan), 6 April 2001-- The situation in western Afghanistan continues to deteriorate as summer approaches. The six camps for displaced persons in Herat now hold 110,000 people, with 65,000 in Maslakh, the largest camp and the only camp that is still open. While arrivals had slowed in January, due to a combination of weather and assistance to families in their areas of origin, truckloads of families have again begun arriving in the provincial capital. On average, about 1,000 displaced persons are arriving each day, fleeing drought, conflict, or both.
Various governments, including the US, Norway, and Japan, have carried out airlifts of supplies to the area, but need is outstripping supply. The United Nations Regional Co-ordinator for Western Region has noted that, again, too few tents are available for incoming families, and the aid community is coping with this shortfall by assigning two families to each one-family tent.

Sanitary conditions, especially in Maslakh camp, are poor although 1,200 latrines are under construction. However, once these latrines are completed, there will still be a shortfall of more than 2,000 latrines in Maslakh camp alone. As summer is approaching, the implications of the lack of adequate sanitation for public health are obvious, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) is seriously concerned about the risk of epidemics.

Registration of arrivals is underway in the camp. This will help to determine the specific rural areas and districts from which families are fleeing. Once this is obtained, there is need for further information on nutritional status of new arrivals and of those who remain in the rural areas in order to target assistance most effectively. It is clear, however, that large numbers of drought affected families in villages are suffering severe hardship. "When I ask people in the camps why some people leave a village, while others stay, they tell me that those who stay behind can't afford the cost of transport to get out," said the UN Regional Co-ordinator.

Virtually all the sparse rain that falls in the west occurs during winter. Last year, western Afghanistan had the worst drought in living memory. This year, according to DACAAR, the drought continues in the worst hit areas. Rainfall during January and February in Kushk District of Herat Province and in Qadis District of Badghis Province is lower than last year--a severe drought year--at the same period.

A recent WFP mission to Badghis, the first UN mission since the murder of seven national staff of the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan in summer 2000, found that many families simply do not have enough assets to remain in their homes and that they have exhausted their food supplies and livestock herds. WFP has also found that prices in the livestock market in the west plummeted a few months ago, indicating that the market was flooded with livestock being sold off by families. Recently, prices in the livestock market have shot up, indicating shortages in supply. No longer are trucks laden with livestock seen departing Herat for other locations in the large numbers they were last year. Livestock is an important source of income for many rural families, and WFP's findings seem to indicate that families have largely depleted this important source of income. As the situation has deteriorated, the numbers of people in need in Badghis have grown so large that traditional coping strategies of sharing and charitable giving are no longer viable.

Given the scale of need, both in the camps and the rural areas of western Afghanistan, the aid community will have to maintain assistance at current or higher levels for at least the next twelve months.

Since 2000, as many as 800,000 Afghans have left their homes because of conflict and drought. Most are internally displaced inside Afghanistan.

For further information, please contact: Stephanie Bunker, Office of the UN Co-ordinator for Afghanistan, 2211451 x 415; mobile 03204 261325