The Kandahar Disaster Management Committee, comprising local government authorities, UN agencies and other international organizations, has assessed that there are 15,003 families who have been displaced by fighting in Panjwai and Zherai districts of Kandhar. Of these around 10,500 families are now living in Kandahar district while the others have been displaced from homes to other areas within Panjwai and Zherai distrcts.

Local authorities report that between 1400 and 1500 battle-displaced families have returned to their homes in the district villages of Sprewan, Sya Joy and Zangawat.

Meanwhile UN agencies are currently pushing ahead together with local authorities to deliver essential humanitarian assistance to displaced families.

The UN World Food Programme is busy distributing nearly 1,500 tons of mixed foods including wheat, rice, cooking oil and pulses for 15,000 families while UNICEF, UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) are providing 4000 warm blankets, 2000 plastic sheets for shelter, 2000 family kits containing cooking stoves, kerosene lamps and other essential cooking utensils.

This distribution started last week and will continue over the next three to four weeks, we are glad to report that this operation is currently running smoothly and there have been no security or weather concerns so far.

We will of course keep you updated as these relief efforts continue.

Since Afghan voluntary repatriation started in 2002, more than 160,000 returnee families – or over 1 million individuals throughout Afghanistan – have received UNHCR's construction kits and have completed building their homes. Despite security constraints in the south and southeastern provinces, UNHCR has provided more than 24,000 shelter units to build homes for nearly 170,000 Afghans. Some 18,000 shelters countrywide were completed ahead of winter in 2006 alone.

Families also get cash ranging from US$50-100 to assist them in building the homes.

The UNHCR shelter programme is designed to help the most vulnerable returned refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) across Afghanistan . As shelter is one of the most pressing needs of returning Afghans, UNHCR will continue providing some 10,000 shelter units for the neediest returnees in 2007.

Since March 2002, over 3.7 million Afghan refugees have returned home with UNHCR assistance – including nearly 150,000 in 2006. At least another 500,000 IDPs including 10,000 in 2006 only within Afghanistan have been assisted to return home since 2002.

Dr. Chan said, “With just four parts of four countries now remaining polio endemic, and the availability of potent new tools such as the monovalent oral polio vaccines, I am convinced that a polio-free world can be attained…. I will be working with the remaining polio-infected countries, the Regional Directors and our partners to ensure an unprecedented effort on polio eradication.... I want to assure you today that this will continue to be [top priority] until we finish the job.”

Meanwhile, the number of cases of polio diagnosed in Afghanistan since the beginning of 2006 rose to 30 with confirmation of a new case identified in Baghlan Province . And a “mop-up” campaign to reach 734,000 children in the Northeast of Afghanistan is currently underway between14-16 January 2007.

The USD $12.7 million RISE programme is being jointly implemented in Balkh , Nangahar and Kandahar provinces by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UN Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (UNMACA) in cooperation with the Government of Afghanistan.

The RISE programme is unique in taking a holistic approach to boosting local economies by developing long-term infrastructure projects that benefit an entire community with shorter term employment opportunities for local workers and at the same time taking into consideration the needs of both rural and urban communities.

The RISE Programme has four main components;

Firstly to create short term employment opportunities and at the same time support local infrastructure development, secondly to build capacity of local Government Institutions enabling them to better serve the needs of communities, thirdly to clear valuable agricultural land of unexploded ordinance. And lastly to assist vulnerable farmers with seeds, fertilizers and optional support packages to start up fruit tree nurseries, fish farms or even provide diary cows.

Over 2000 vulnerable farmers have already benefited under the RISE programme and 68 000 working days have been created for labourers while local communities have benefited from new drainage canals, market areas and women's resource centres to name but a few examples.

And the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is at the forefront of efforts to support Afghanistan 's vital farming and agriculture sectors. The FAO today announced that it would support Afghanistan 's second dairy cooperative in Kunduz province that has just been registered by the Government of Afghanistan. The first Dairy cooperative to be registered in Afghanistan was the Kabul Dairy Union.

FAO will provide Afghanistan 's newest dairy cooperative members with business skills training, and prepare them to take over processing facilities for their dairy products. The Kunduz Dairy will also be upgraded with modern milk processing facilities to produce milk, yoghurt, ice cream and other dairy products.

With UN FAO support Kunduz's dairy farmers can look forward to increasing their household incomes, improved access to a regular and dependable raw milk market increased level of food security.

Question and Answers

Question: The UN welcomed the recent Minister of Interior appointments to the Afghanistan National Police (ANP) while the UN knew that there are some problems and shortcomings with these appointments and did not say anything. Is the UN being influenced or under pressure not to react before the Government makes these decisions?

Senior PIO: Let's be clear on one issue first - we are an assistance mission for the Government of Afghanistan and it's people and that is our number one priority in everything that we say and do. Strengthening the rule of law will be an overriding priority for all our efforts during 2007. The rule of law links back either directly or indirectly to many of the major issues facing Afghanistan today, including corruption, the insurgency and the pace of development. UNAMA and UN agencies are playing an essential role in helping the Government to strengthen state institutions. This is evident in the close work that we have been doing with the Government on the on-going process of reform. Your question refers specifically to recent Ministry Of Interior reforms, allow me to remind you that last summer a number of police appointments were made which had not gone through the correct selection procedures of being fair, transparent and accountable and UNAMA was one of the first to indicate that we were not content with this. Since that time a joint Ministry of Interior / International community probationary board had been set up to review these appointments and ensure that any confirmed appointments are made on the basis of merit, professionalism and integrity of the prospective officials. As a result of this process 11 of the fourteen appointments were not made. The Ministry of Interior has now confirmed 40 new appointments, this is the largest scale reform of police appointments that we have seen to date, all of these officials have had to pass examinations, undergo a thorough vetting procedure and they have had their past histories reviewed to ensure their presence within the ANP strengthens the rule of law and does not detract from this important effort. A number of the appointments made were, in fact, promotions, rewarding those that performed well and removing those that did not contribute to [strengthening] the rule of law. We believe that this is a substantial improvement on how appointments have previously been made within the ANP and these appointments should be welcomed. We now need to give these new officials a chance in their new posts and UNAMA will of course continue to monitor this closely.

Question: While UNAMA said that a priority for 2007 is strengthening the rule of law, the recent [ANP] appointments are not new – isn't this just reshuffling of the same people? Does UNAMA think that these appointments will strengthen the rule of law?

Question: Can you provide specific details on the reasons why the probationary board did not confirm 11 ANP appointments?

Senior PIO: I am not in a position to go through each of the eleven cases on a case-by-case basis with you and I don't think it would be particularly fair or helpful to discuss the reasons why they were not selected in such a public forum. If I may refer you to the Ministry of Interior who should be able to provide you with the information you need.

I will however stress that UNAMA's role has been primarily in an advisory capacity, helping the Government to develop the right selection procedures and to ensure that all appointments are made on the basis of fair, equitable and transparent criteria. The final decision on whether to appoint these officials was rightly made by the Government of Afghanistan.

Thank You.