On Friday, 24 October, the ex-soldiers paraded without their weapons in front of President Karzai and other senior officials at the launch of the DDR programme. From Saturday onwards they have been returning to the regional office of Afghanistan's New Beginnings Programme (ANBP) to discuss their futures.

At the ANBP office they are watching a motivational film about life as a civilian and are briefed on their responsibilities as a civilian. In an interview they talk about their background, skills and education and what they would like to do next. Finally they are given an identity card and receive part of the cash benefit, a food package and a shalwar kamiz.

By the end of the fourth day of demobilization, which was two days ago, on Tuesday, 396 ex-soldiers had been seen by the ANBP teams. Of the different opportunities available through the ANBP, the most popular so far is agricultural work, followed by those who want some kind of vocational training and job placement through one of the National Development Programme schemes. The chance to become a deminer is also quite popular and some are interested in starting small businesses. Very few had opted to join either the Afghan National Army or the police.

The final figures for the numbers disarmed in Kunduz are as follows: 1008 soldiers disarmed and 926 weapons were collected.

The next pilot phase of the disarmament is scheduled to start in Gardez on 10 November.

As we told you elections for delegates from Ghor Province for the CLJ were held in Herat on 23 October in Herat. Seven delegates were elected from nine final candidates. One key issue during the process was the election of a Deputy Minister. Once the monitoring teams heard of this candidacy, it was cancelled as it was considered to be in contravention of the 15 July Presidential Decree on the Constitution.

Within the special categories grouping elections for women have been completed in Badakshan, Balkh, Faryab, Jawzjan and Ghazni. Elections in this category will also begin today in Kunduz and Paktya. As you know, a total of 64 female delegates, two from each province, will participate in December's proceedings.

Registration of representatives who will elect delegates to represent internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the CLJ was completed in all IDP camps in the South, particularly in Helmand and Kandahar. Elections will take place after Eid. Registration of other IDP representatives will also be held in Herat.

The Kuchi National Advisory Committee has identified nine electoral zones for the Kuchi throughout the country. These are zones for them to elect their representatives. They are in Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul, Herat, Baghlan/Kunduz, Faryab/Balkh, Nangarhar and Khost. Elections for the nine Kuchi seats at the CLJ should be completed by the end of November.

He said: "Insecurity has without question slowed the delivery of reconstruction, if not outright prevented it in the most insecure areas." For some construction projects which had gone ahead in spite of the possible dangers, costs had risen because of delays or providing protective measures for staff.

Mr. Guehenno pointed out that recent attacks have predominantly targeted national rather than international staff. He told the Security Council that further security precautions have been taken by the UN and humanitarian community particularly in the south because of increased terrorist activities.

And here I would to make sure that there are no misunderstandings, in particular because of a couple media stories, including an edition of a Kabul weekly that came out yesterday saying that the UN had suspended operations in the south. That is incorrect. What Mr. Guehenno said is that road missions to Nimroz, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces are temporarily suspended. He went on to say that in Kandahar, armed escorts are required in four district and road missions are temporarily suspended in five districts.

Under Secretary-General Guehenno stated that the new mandate for ISAF approved by the Security Council earlier this month cleared the way for extending international security assistance to where it is most needed. He encouraged Member States to provide the necessary and appropriate resources to do this.

The briefing to the Council touched on other areas and we have the full text for those of you who wish to have access to it.

We will be able to provide you with more details about the timing of this at our regular briefing on Sunday. There will be a number of media opportunities. The meetings held here and in the field will be open to photo-ops. However, they will also hold press encounters in Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif. And they will hold a press conference at the end of their stay here in Kabul.

We are still waiting confirmation of seats that might be available for press on their plane going to Herat and Mazar. Once we do know this information, we will be discussing it with you at the briefing on Sunday. We do know that there will have to be some sort of pool arrangement since it looks like there will be five or six seats only.

In response to this situation, UNAMA established the Farah Recovery Group, made up of UN agencies and international and Afghan NGOs, to coordinate immediate emergency needs. To date, the focus has been on reactivating the blocked and damaged irrigation system that feeds the affected villages.

Now that the winds have died down, the Group will be looking at long-term solutions for post-drought recovery. A UNAMA consultant has been dispatched to the affected districts in order to begin planning a joint response, taking into consideration the key sectors of soil conservation, livestock and water resource management, and household income generation.

The radio station which went on air on Tuesday, 28 October, will broadcast news bulletins every afternoon from 2-4pm. It aims to empower women in the development of civil society.

The radio station has been set up with the support of three non-governmental organizations and is funded by USAID and the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA.

'Saher' is the third women's radio station in Afghanistan - there is already one in Kabul and one in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The two-phased project will address many of the recommendations contained in UNEP's January 2003 report detailing the pressure that conflict, poverty and population growth have placed on the natural resources of the country.

Phase one of the project will begin immediately with the organizing of a separate Department of Environment within the Ministry of Irrigation, Water Resources and Environment. Phase two, beginning in 2004, will strengthen the capacity of the Department of Environment and will also address the development of a protected areas network, among other things. The project is largely funded by the European Commission and is scheduled to run for 30 months.

The full UNEP press release is available on the side table. For those of you who might be interested in more details, the UNEP representative in Afghanistan is sitting in the back of the room and is available for questions.

We also have available a press release that was issued by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Questions and Answers

Question: Can we have a schedule of the Security Council visit?

Spokesman: On Sunday.

Question: Are the Loya Jirga elections in Paktika lasting for two or three days?

Spokesman: What we are talking about for 2 November is the registration of voters, not elections. Twenty-eight provinces have held registration of voters. These voters are the district representatives of last year's Loya Jirga. Once they are registered as voters, then down the road there will be the actual election of delegates. So far, we have only held elections in two provinces, Badakshan and Ghor, and that is because of the early onset of winter in those regions. All provinces will hold elections towards the last days of November/early December.

Question: Can you please repeat the name of the provinces where the UN has suspended road missions?

Spokesman: The four provinces are Nimroz, Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul.

Question: Can you work at all in these areas?

Spokesman: Not for the time being, but that does not that mean that programmes are suspended. A short while back we had a note that talked about two schools being built in Zabul and Uruzgan by four Afghan NGOs with UNAMA funding. This is a part of our programme of activities but implemented by these NGOs.

Question: Why was the number of soldiers higher than the number of weapons in the demobilization process in Kunduz? How about heavy weapons?

Spokesman: The reason why the number of soldiers was higher than the number of weapons is because even though most of the weapons are operated individually, some of them are operated by more than one individual. These account for two or three soldiers, depending on what the weapon is. As the process goes on, heavy weapons will be deactivated at the regional locations and left in place to be dealt with later.