A roof over the heads of people who have fled fighting in Tadjikistan: that is the aim of a one million European Currency Unit (Ecu) project the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) is funding this year.

Tadjikistan has been the focus of civil strife between Islamic fundamentalists, democrats within the country and those loyal to reformed Communist groupings. Between 1992 and 1993, about 17,000 homes were destroyed in fighting in the south of the country. There are currently between 20,000 and 22,000 refugees in northern Afghanistan.

The money from ECHO will pay for timber to reconstruct 2,000 houses. It is a contribution to a programme the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is managing to help reintegrate those who fled fighting for safe havens within Tadjikistan or in northern Afghanistan. Their reintegration, especially of those returning from Afghanistan, often from Islamic fundamentalist strongholds, is seen as a way of seeding peace in a very unstable region. The borders and principal interior points are currently protected by over 28,000 Russian troops.

ECHO gave earlier grants, totalling one million Ecu, towards the housing part of the reintegration programme at the end of 1993, and it was spent last year. Though there was good progress in rebuilding houses, the need for more help became apparent during an ECHO mission last November.