A total of 8,018 heavy weapons have been secured throughout the country. A precise final estimate of how many heavy weapons there are in the country is not available due to the possibility of discovering stocks of unexpected weapons but the ANBP believes that more than 95 percent of the heavy weapons have been collected.

Interested journalists can download recent high resolution pictures from the heavy weapons collection in the Panjshir Valley, as well as the cantonment site, by visiting the ANBP website at www.undpanbp.org <http://www.undpanbp.org> or request a CD from Jesko Johannsen. Contact details are available on the web page. The pictures of the weapons collection were shot yesterday (January 12) and may be used freely by the media.

- More than 33,000 former soldiers disarmed
To date, 33,406 members of the Afghanistan Military Forces (AMF) have been disarmed. Most of them have also been demobilized, their units decommissioned, and entered the reintegration phase. 29,677 former AMF personnel are either in the reintegration phase, or have finished it. Also to date, 23,678 weapons have also been collected.

Training and support in agricultural activities remains by far the most popular choice by the ex-combatants. More than 44% have chosen that area. Training in various trades and skills is second at just over 30 percent, followed by help in setting up a small business at 16 percent.

Afghanistan's New Beginnings Programme is set to complete the full disarmament of all AMF units identified by the Ministry of Defence on schedule by the end of June 2005. Reintegration activities will continue until June 2006.

- Elections to occur “when a proper political environment has been created through DDR” says UN SRSG Arnault to Security Council
Last Monday (January 10), Jean Arnault, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan (SRSG) briefed the UN Security Council on the latest developments in the country.

Speaking about the next elections, Jean Arnault cautioned that a lot still remains to be done to meet the April-May target date. He called for the appointment of an Independent Electoral Commission in the near future and emphasized that a number of other decisions still need to be made, such as, the participation of refugees and nomads to the vote; the demarcation of district boundaries; the population figures per provinces; and the preparation of voters’ lists.

He concluded that the Independent Electoral Commission will make a final decision on the date of the elections in the next few weeks. On the funding, he indicated that US $120 to $130 million would be needed to cover the elections, through an appeal launched to the international community.

Regarding the issue of narcotics, the SRSG recalled that drug-related activities represented 60% of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product and reminded the Council that this industry and the corruption going with it were becoming the biggest threats to ensuring the country’s long-term stability. He thus welcomed the commitment of the central government to tackle this problem.

Finally, on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), the SRSG emphasized that DDR has been - and I quote him - “a key consideration in deciding on the day and modalities of the elections.” He added that the elections should take place - and I quote him again - “when a proper political environment has been created through DDR.” In his statement, he praised the fact that 33,000 militiamen had been disarmed while the Heavy Weapon Cantonment programme was almost complete. The SRSG also warned that irregular forces had not been included in the disarmament programme, an issue that should now be tackled as a priority by the new government with the support of the international community.

For more details on the SRSG’s briefing, including other aspects of the electoral process, please pick up a copy of his statement, which is available in English only. You can also check the website for the press release:

- Two-day electoral systems conference held by the National Democratic Institute (NDI)
As we speak the National Democratic Institute (NDI) is holding a conference on electoral systems at the Sitara Hotel in Kabul. The two-day event, which began yesterday, is aiming at discussing with political parties and civil society groups the best voting system for Afghanistan. The Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV) is the system to be used for the next elections according to the electoral law. However, since this legislation might be revised, UNAMA and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Jean Arnault, welcome this initiative as a useful contribution to the ongoing debate.

A decision on a revision of the legislation, including the voting system, will possibly be made shortly by the electoral commission and the cabinet.

The event guest speakers included representatives of Afghan political parties, civil society groups, academics from Kabul University, and many representatives from foreign embassies and international organizations. Filippo Grandi, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, also spoke yesterday.

- Assistance distributed to drug-addicted and mentally disabled patients in Heart
In the last week in Herat, 250 drug-addicted patients and 220 mentally disabled persons have received assistance in the form of non-food items. The distribution of food will begin by the end of the week. This initiative is in response to a request from the Herat authorities and the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS). According to ARCS, the drug-addicted patients are in need of immediate health care, food and winterization assistance, while the mentally disabled group needs food and health care.

UNAMA contributed 250 blankets, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) provided fuel and wood and the World Health Organization (WHO) supplied medicine. The World Food Programme (WFP) will also provide food for the next six months with WHO conducting the distribution. ARCS and the Counter Narcotics department in Heart will closely coordinate the initiative.

These measures are in response to an emergency situation, however, a long-term solution needs to be found for these very vulnerable groups of people. In this respect, ARCS established a clinic supported by the Herat Department of Health. The clinic has enough health personnel, however it is undergoing shortages of medical supplies and medicine.

- Afghan staff from the Environment Directorate attending training in India
Five staff from the Directorate of Environment in Kabul are currently attending two training courses conducted by the World Bank in New Delhi, India. The training sessions, which began last Sunday, will last until the 18th of January.

The workshops will address social and environmental issues like urban management and the power sectors. They will include formal classroom activities as well as field visits on topics such as water and sewage treatment, air deterioration, disposal and conversion of solid waste or slum sanitation.

These are the first workshops of the kind. The initiative is part of a wide range of capacity-building activities planned and being undertaken by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for environment-related institutions in Afghanistan.
 Briefing by Tim Irwin, UNHCR

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, continues his four-day mission to Afghanistan today. Weather conditions have forced a change in his itinerary, so today instead of flying to Kandahar he will visit UNHCR operations in Parwan province.

He will travel to Kandahar tomorrow where he will meet the provincial governor before visiting an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp run by UNHCR. While there, he will also see an income generation project in operation. He will return to Kabul the same day.

The High Commissioner held a number of meetings with members of the newly appointed Afghan cabinet including the Minister for Refugees, the Minister for Rural Rehabilitation, the Minister for the Economy, and the Foreign Minister. He also met with the head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.

On Saturday, he will meet President Karzai. Following the meeting, there will be a press conference here in the briefing room of UNAMA, compound B, at 1:15pm. He will then depart for Islamabad.

Questions & Answers:

Question: Regarding the collection of Heavy Weapons in the Panjshir Valley, we understand there were some problems where they were not able to go forward. Do these problems still exist or have they been solved?

Senior Public Information Officer: I think there were some very minor incidents of different sorts yesterday which have to be put back into context, being that Panjshir is a major step forward in the cantonment of Heavy Weapons. The collection of Heavy Weapons in the Panjshir Valley is a very big step. It is the last big step in the process of collecting Heavy Weapons in Afghanistan. That said, yes, there were minor incidents which were either due to local interests that wanted to be heard and used this process to do so. But there are also the weather conditions, the geographical conditions, the ability to continue - or not - which might make this process not as smooth as in other areas. But, I would not call these “problems”. I would call them minor incidents.

Question: On the upcoming Parliamentary elections, the SRSG mentioned that the country will need US $120 million dollars from donors. How much of that money has come in?

Senior Public Information Officer: We have not asked for any of this money right now. And so what we have is money remaining from the presidential elections. I am not able to give you an exact figure because salaries are still being paid, as well as a number of things, and we are still looking into the accounts. But the money coming from the presidential elections will allow us to start the preparations of the parliamentary elections. We cannot put together a budget for the parliamentary elections until we have an electoral commission which is appointed - and that is a presidential prerogative - so we have to wait for the president to appoint an electoral commission. We have to wait to have a number of issues which are under discussion and under review to be confirmed, then we can put together a budget and then, only once that is all finished, we can launch an appeal to the international community. Hopefully this is a matter of weeks, because everything I have been telling you, the establishment of the final electoral authorities, and the confirmation of a number of issues which are linked to the modalities of the elections, are decisions that have to be made in the coming weeks. Then, based on this provisional estimate of US $120 to $130 million dollars, we can finalize the budget and launch the appeal.

Question: What is the final deadline that the president has to appoint his commission in order for the elections to be on time?

Senior Public Information Officer: I think the deadline we have ahead of us is the deadline for the Presidential Decree on the demarcation of the district boundaries. The deadline is 120 days before the elections. The Presidential Decree has to come up with the delimitation of the district boundaries. If you look at the time frame we are still in the correct time frame. In other words we have not passed the 120-day deadline. That is the first deadline that has to be looked at if we want the elections to take place in the month of Saur, which is in April or May of the western calendar. There is a matter of emergency, but we are still within the time frame.

Question: Is the JEMB (Joint Electoral Management Body) still functioning? Are members still in place? What is the justification for giving salaries to these members?

Senior Public Information Officer: What we have right now is a review of the system that will be put in place for the elections. So, we are discussing what the previous system is going to become, which decision is going to be made. There again, the announcement and the decision is not a decision for UNAMA but rather is a presidential prerogative and that will come from the President. So we have a structure. What structure are we going to have? I don’t know right now. It is not up to me to announce it. But we will have a smooth transition, maybe the previous system will remain in place, maybe we will have a transitional commission, maybe we will have a permanent commission, I do not know, but we are in the process of switching into the system that will apply for the next elections.