Tajikistan: ICRC assistance in Tavildara area

An ICRC team, now back in this region which passed into the hands of the Tajik opposition last December, is going to distribute food aid (flour and cooking oil) at the end of this week. The supplies are destined for about 20 villages in the Tavildara sub-district, comprising 2,300 people out of a population estimated at 4,000 before the hostilities.

Since the cease-fire agreed between the parties at the end of last year, displaced people have been gradually returning to their home villages, hoping to arrive in time for the planting season. The ICRC's objective is to cover the needs of the valley's population for the next three months, up to the summer harvest.

The ICRC team is planning to extend its assistance operation from next week to villages in the Childara sub-district.

Five months have gone by since the ICRC last carried out aid distributions in the Tavildara area, which was hard hit by the fighting in 1996. Last autumn more than 40 tonnes of food, blankets and plastic sheeting were supplied.