I want to take the opportunity to clarify that some of you reported a much larger number of victims. That is incorrect.

The new materials are three new leaflets with the messages: "You need your registration card to enter the polling station", "You must vote in person" and "Keep your card for future elections". As you can see, these are beginning to address in a massive way, some of the rumors and concerns that we hear around the country and this is going to be done through posters, leaflets, also through radio and television programmes and other means such as the Mobile Cinema, Mobile Theater, and Mobile Radio.

The first message regarding multiple registration is that it is illegal. It is punishable with fines and imprisonment as per the Regulation on Offenses During the Registration Period, which was issued by JEMB on 10 February of this year. The second point is that even if someone has deceived registration officials and obtained more than one registration card, he or she will vote only once. That is because procedures will be in place at the voting stations to ensure just that. Although the final procedures are not yet announced, I think I can safely share with you, and as I said through you with the Afghan public, that there will be one Electoral Secretariat staff member in each voting station dedicated to the identification of the voters. This person will check the serial number of the voter registration card and then he or she will check the left thumb of the individual to look for any trace of ink. If any trace of ink is found, that is the proof that the person has already voted and therefore will not be able to vote again. If the thumb of the voter is clear then it will be marked with indelible ink. Following that, the voter's registration card is punched with a hole. That is yet another measure to prevent use of the card more than once.

In addition to the cantonment that took place in the past, heavy weapons cantonment has started in Gardez, where a weapons collection team has moved 142 heavy weapons to a cantonment site at Gardez airfield that is guarded by the Afghan National Army (ANA). On the issue of heavy weapons, there is a good news because Canada recently provided the funding to cover about half of the estimated fuel costs for the heavy weapons cantonment project estimated to be around about $2.5 million. I understand that the total heavy weapons cantonment is estimated at around US$3 million.

Following an initial assessment visit last week by ANBP and the MOD, which we told you about in the last briefing, so these two institutions are now deploying fully to Chaghcharan in Ghor Province. In early August they are expected to begin disarming the 41st Division. A total of 431 soldiers from that Division, which was officially disbanded by the Government last month, have already been verified by the MOD and ANBP working together. The 41st Division is estimated to have a total of 1,557 soldiers in all. The total for DDR so far is 12,230 men have disarmed and of these some 10,235 have started or are about to begin reintegration programmes.

In Heart, where you will recall there was an earthquake on 14 July in Gulran district, further assessment indicates that a total of 700 families in 20 villages have been affected. The majority of the houses are made of mud so the main concern for residents is to repair and reconstruct their houses before the coming winter. The disaster management team, comprised of government representatives, UN agencies, and the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), is providing tents, food, and medical care to the victims.

In Badakhsan, following last week's floods in Jurm and Shohada districts, some 80 homes in Khost Dara in Yaftal district and Orneil village, Arganshra district have been destroyed. No casualties have been reported but large areas of agricultural land have been destroyed. Now that the rain has stopped, the provincial disaster management committee, which is comprised of the Provincial Government, ARCS, NGOs, and the UN are conducting assessments to determine the extent of damage and register the families. Food and tents are being dispatched to the area.

The first two workshops will be from 4-8 August. They will be on Business Awareness for local women in Heart and Mazar-i-Sharif.

UNHCR Spokesperson, Mohammad Nader Farhad

The registration of 3,720 families - about 18,600 individuals - living in the Spin Boldak IDP camp was completed on 22 July, the deadline for indicating what they intend to do when the camp closes.

Of 3, 720 families registered by Wednesday, 1,500 - 46 percent - had said they want to move to Zhare Dasht, a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) that was set up two years ago near the main southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

However, UNHCR field staff said more families, who had been receiving food rations in Spin Boldak, might wish to join the move as daily convoys depart for Zhare Dasht camp. The percentage indicating they wish to move to Zhare Dasht has risen steadily during the registration period.

Only a few individuals have said they want UNHCR assistance to return to their homes in northern Afghanistan and some who have purchased land at Spin Boldak will be assisted to integrate. However, the largest numbers have said they will remain in Spin Boldak, where many have found local work, without any assistance from the UN Refugee Agency.

All assistance to Spin Boldak IDP camp will end on August 31. It was established in late 2001 to shelter Afghans fleeing the war between the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan and US-led forces but who were unable to cross into neighboring Pakistan. Although Pakistan did allow the entry of some 300,000 refugees, many were stuck at the border.

However, it was always a difficult location to provide humanitarian assistance. UNHCR had problems finding a dependable source of water and the site was along the Afghan-Pakistan border where there are continual security concerns.

Convoys have been departing to Zhare Dasht almost daily under the relocation programme. They are escorted along the highway and medical staff screens all the arriving IDPs.

Sixty tents were erected at the reception area in case those arriving haves to be housed overnight, although IDPs are normally taken the same day to an area prepared for their longer-term stay. Twenty-four wells have been rehabilitated to ensure a supply of drinking water.

At the start of the programme to close Spin Boldak, there were more than 180,000 IDPs in Afghanistan, mainly in camp-like situations where they receive assistance. Of these, most - 145,000 - were in the south where Zhare Dasht and Spin Boldak are located. There were also 9,000 IDPs in the north, 20,000 in the west, 5,500 in the east and 5,000 in the southeast of Afghanistan.

The steady reduction of the IDP population - UNHCR has assisted 443,000 IDPs to return home since 2002 - has paralleled the massive repatriation of refugees from neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan.

UNICEF Communication Officer, Edward Carwadine

The determination of the Afghan government to promote breastfeeding is demonstrated by a planned week of events, beginning with a ceremony at the Ministry of Health on Sunday, 1 August, starting at 10:30am. During the event, which will be attended by senior Ministry officials and representatives of partner agencies, dramas on the importance of breastfeeding will be staged, and the winner of a children's essay competition will be announced. Pupils from Abdul Hadi Dawi Boys' School and Bibi Mahro Girls' School have been working on essays about the importance of breastfeeding among future fathers and would-be mothers as part of preparations for World Breastfeeding Week.

From Sunday, Afghan radio and television will join the efforts by broadcasting a series of radio spots, dramas, roundtable discussions and some special health programmes throughout World Breastfeeding Week. With the support from UNICEF and WHO, the Ministry of Health has also conducted a training session for a total of 82 local health officials from all over the country who will now act as focal points to develop awareness raising activities in the provinces and assist parents at their health facilities.

UNICEF believes such a wide range of participation in Afghanistan is a good example of the international theme for World Breastfeeding Week, which revolves around the motif of a "golden bow" - symbolizing the promotion of exclusive and continued breastfeeding by every member of the community. One loop of the bow represents the mother and the other loop, the child. The knot between the loops signifies the father, the family and society which together support the mother and the child. A thousand golden bows will be distributed in Afghanistan during World Breastfeeding Week.

Data from UNICEF and the Ministry of Health shows that 97% of Afghan babies are breastfed, but not exclusively. Nearly two thirds are given no colostrum, the breast milk produced during the first few days after birth, which is very rich in antibodies and therefore a vital source of natural protection for the infant. More worrying is the fact that supplementary foods such as tea are introduced at very early age. 35% of children start receiving supplementary foods between 6 and 9 months and 10% as young as 2 months old. Furthermore, the increasing availability of the breast milk substitute with sophisticated advertising can endanger efforts to protect a child's health through breastfeeding, especially when the supply of clean water for mixing with substitutes is not assured and when a parent's knowledge of how to safely use substitutes is limited.

In addition to the immediate health benefits of breastfeeding, exclusively breastfed babies have higher scores on intelligence tests when they are older, according to the global studies.

Questions and Answers

Question: On MSF, in their statements, they have given two reasons for leaving. One is the blurry line between the civilian and military work PRTs and the second is the lack of progress into the investigation of death of MSF staff, the UN has also experienced death of staff. Do you feel the same frustration on the investigation side and what is your interpretation of the PRTs here?

Spokesman: I have not seen the statement. So with that in mind, let me take them [your questions] one by one. The issue of NGOs, military and humanitarian work is not a new one. It is not new in Afghanistan and it is not new elsewhere. It is a matter that in Afghanistan came particularly to light with the establishment of PRTs. Indeed it is an issue that NGOs have raised with great concern and we at the UN have played a role in facilitating and helping in the dialogue between the military and the NGOs. Since then, it is our view that a long way has been walked by everyone. The PRTs have changed a number of their methods, but indeed it is an issue that I fear will not be solved quickly because you do have programmes and activities that are humanitarian, which a number of NGOS see as needing to be preserved as such. But you also have a more and more complex situation where new partners are coming into the scene so perhaps the question is one of continued dialogue, continued identification of areas of responsibility in a way that identities can be preserved so that the ultimate goal which is the good of the population in need is achieved.

On your second issue, like MSF, we, other organizations and the Government of Afghanistan, let's not forget that, have suffered many losses. People have been killed because they were doing their work- work in support of this country, in support of the transition and peace in Afghanistan. Institutions are still very weak here. As you know in the Bonn Agreement the need for the reform of the justice system was identified. The need for a new police is also identified as well as for a new army. Work is being done for that to happen but as we always say, this will not happen from one day to another. You have now I believe close to 20,000 trained police and you probably have about 12,000 soldiers and officers in the Afghan National Army (ANA) who are professional, well trained and respected by the population wherever they go. But we are not there yet. Unfortunately a number of the cases that have happened in the country have not yet reached a conclusion in terms of justice- bringing to justice the perpetrators. MSF have suffered a very dramatic coup. I think bigger than any other organization in one single moment. As I said earlier, let's hope that as conditions change, [there will be] police that can investigate, and a justice system that can prosecute and judge.

Question: Have the registration sites been stopped?

Spokesman: Registration continued yesterday in all sites with the exception of the sites in Andar district in Ghazni where there was the explosion that killed the two people that we talked about before.

Question: I am going to ask you about the voter registration; you say that 8.5 million have been registered and then you were talking about multiple registrations. Do you have any idea how many of the 8.5 million might be multiple registration?

Spokesman: No, we don't know the numbers. We are conducting some checks but I think that we cannot forget and we really have to look at this in a context where there is not much trust in the institutions, old or new. That happens, and I see it here as I have seen it in a number of countries where I have worked and lived. When the institutions are weak and people don't trust them, it is very fertile ground for rumors. Who knows if it is not those few who do not want to see this process moving as healthy as it has been moving so far, who want to cast some doubts by spreading rumors. We don't know how widespread this problem is. The Electoral Secretariat is taking measures to try to have a more complete sense of the volume [of this problem]. We certainly hope that it is very small but they are checking. The important thing is that we trust that it will not have any impact on election results for the reasons I mentioned before (identification of voters and inking of their thumbs). If you have two cards or if you are very dishonest citizen and you manage to get 20 cards by deceiving voter registration officials, you will vote only once and you will not be able to vote more than the one time you are entitled to under the law. When you vote, your vote will be of the same value if you are man or woman and it will be secret.

Question: Do you think that the MSF withdrawal might give the impression to the ordinary Afghans that security is worse now that it has been in the last 24 years? Can you give us a sense of what most NGOs feel about the state of security? Is it worse than before?

Spokesman: The NGOs have their umbrella organizations here. They have their coordination mechanism here; we do not coordinate them so they should be the ones to be able to answer that much better than I could.