Relief reaches Afghans amid reprieve in fighting

A lull in shelling and an improved security situation has allowed international organisations to step up the provision of humanitarian assistance to 10,000 displaced Afghans camped out along the Pyanj River on the Tajik-Afghan border. On Friday 9 February the World Food Programme distributed 10 mt of commodities - enough supply for two weeks - the second such food distribution in the past month. Despite this breakthrough, the UN and international organisations are still grappling with how to provide humanitarian assistance to the Afghan displaced in a safer environment. The population, predominantly women and children, have been stranded on the river banks since September when they fled the Taliban movement's advance into northeastern Afghanistan. Tajik Government officials in a meeting on 30 January with the UN Humanitarian coordinator for Tajikistan, expressed deep concern over the likelihood of a deterioration in the economy and internal security should the displaced population be admitted into Tajikistan. However government officials expressed a willingness to continue to facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance to the displaced through Tajikistan. Meanwhile relief efforts continue amid difficult conditions, rain and snowfall. French NGO ACTED has indicated its intention to post an expatriate on the islands within the displaced population in order to monitor targeted distribution of humanitarian assistance. The French organisation is also considering a light shelter improvement project. British NGO, Medical Emergency Relief International,Merlin, held a mobile clinic on the smaller of the two main islands on 25 January. A female and male doctor, together with a medical coordinator were able to treat a number of sick on the island. Merlin's country manager in Tajikistan Paul Handley, told IRIN: "We have not come across any major outbreaks of disease on the islands, however Merlin's major concern is the population's lack of access to health care." Handley said the immunisation coverage among children on the islands was particularly low. On 2 February Merlin conducted a measles immunisation campaign targeting 6-month to 15-year-old children situated on the smaller island. According to UNHCR figures, 95.7% of the targeted population were successfully covered by the vaccination campaign. Action Against Hunger (AAH) conducted a rapid nutritional survey and found only one severely malnourished child out of 220 who were screened. The UN said that timely interventions by the international community had prevented malnutrition among the displaced children. However AAH stressed the need for continued food distribution in order to prevent any deterioration in nutritional status. In an inter-agency mission to the island on 1-2 February, emergency supplies were given to two families whose huts were destroyed and their belongings burnt by shelling on 27 January between Afghanistan's Taliban movement and the opposition Northern Alliance. A total of 334 cooking sets and 334 clothing kits were distributed to other families on the island. The World Health Organisation is planning to send two specialists to the area to collect samples for investigation of disease and to check the quality of drinking water. Abdul Haq Amiri from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the capital Dushanbe,told IRIN on Friday that while much of the assistance had been to the smaller of the two islands, preparations were underway to find a means of distributing relief and conducting measles vaccinations to the larger island. Abdul Haq said that while the international community was awaiting a positive outcome to the deadlock, he was not expecting the Tajik government to change its position on admitting the displaced unless there was a dramatic change in northeastern Afghanistan.