Afghanistan.

"The situation in Afghanistan remains precarious. Success in United Nations peace efforts remains elusive. The military situation is dangerously fluid and may soon deteriorate further with the onset of the spring thaw", Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported on 16 March. Nevertheless, "despite the continuous suffering of the Afghan people, the warring factions have not heeded the repeated appeals for peace and appear determined to pursue the military option", he stated. "However, I remain convinced that a negotiated settlement is the only solution to this long-standing conflict and that the United Nations is the most appropriate forum to bring this about. No one should imagine that a military victory by one party over the others will resolve the Afghan problem in the long term", the Secretary-General stressed.

To that end, he proposed to convene a "meeting of concerned countries", in order to "reassess the situation following recent political/military developments and to discuss how best to promote a negotiated settlement of the conflict, including reinforcing the United Nations peacemaking efforts".

Appeal for $133 million

An appeal for $133 million to ensure the continuation of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan - a war-torn country with the highest rates of infant, childhood and maternal mortality in Asia - was launched by the United Nations on 3 December. Prepared in consultation with United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the donor community, the appeal was to provide urgent humanitarian assistance, while addressing the needs for rehabilitation and reconstruction throughout the country. The programmes included support for the return of refugees, food aid, essential health services, mine clearance and the rehabilitation of basic infrastructure in urban and rural areas.

The people of Afghanistan faced their eighteenth winter at war, with some 500,000 persons in Kabul alone depending on food relief to survive it, the Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA) reported. The recent intensification of the civil conflict had only exacerbated the difficult conditions of an already poor population. Also, there were close to 10 million land-mines in the country, which caused "death and disability at an alarming rate", and such accidents were "expected to increase in the coming months, as people search for scarce firewood in mined areas", the DHA said.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the population of Kabul was "growing poorer with every passing day". The number of poverty-stricken people living in the Afghan capital and receiving regular ICRC assistance was "constantly rising": in the autumn of 1996, it stood at 180,000 and had increased to 216,000, about a fifth of the city's current population, the Committee reported on 22 January.

"With the breakdown of the local economy, the severity of the winter weather and the effects of a never-ending conflict, it is now up to the international organizations to meet the needs of an increasingly exhausted populace", ICRC stressed.

Assistance forum

An international forum on an aid strategy for Afghanistan, which would link urgently required humanitarian assistance with development and peace-making efforts, was held in Ashgabad, Turkmenistan, on 21 and 22 January. Attended by more than 200 representatives from Governments, the United Nations system and NGOs, the meeting reviewed the world community's future role in assisting that country, stressing the need to reinforce the efforts of the Afghans themselves to achieve peace and stability. The forum was addressed by, among others, President Saparmurat A. Niyazov of Turkmenistan and UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Yasushi Akashi.