UN mission visits Afghan displaced

The first UN mission since 26 December was permitted access to the islands on the Pyandj River on the Tajik-Afghan border on Tuesday to assess the condition of 10,000 displaced Afghans who are being joined by more families each night fleeing what the UN termed “persecution”. In a meeting of the UN and non-governmental agencies in the Tajik capital Dushanbe on Wednesday to discuss the outcome of the mission, it was becoming clear that the only solution would be to render urgent humanitarian assistance ‘in-situ’. However security remained a major concern in carrying out a full-scale relief operation in an area that has been subjected to shelling between Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban and the opposition Northern Alliance. The Tajik government has still not answered calls by the UN and the international community to allow the displaced into Tajikistan and no other immediate solution has been found as to where to move the population in order to render humanitarian assistance in safety. Despite the deadlock, on Tuesday the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) announced a willingness to respond to pleas for funding. ECHO representative Peter Burgess said a strategy for intervention still had to be defined and he would be meeting with other aid agencies in the coming days to determine a course of action. Meanwhile the cold weather and lack of shelter on the islands meant health conditions were deteriorating. British medical emergency organisation Merlin reported two deaths in the week of 8 January, both were children hit by high fever and suspected malaria. In the last month, another five deaths were reported, three new-born babies, possibly triplets, and two men, one suffering from malaria. Merlin’s country manager Paul Handley, said there were also incidences of typhoid, of severe gynaecological problems, acute respiratory conditions and war-wounds. Two weeks ago, a group of 11 severely ill women and children were evacuated from the island by a group of Tajik doctors from Dushanbe and taken to a military hospital where they were receiving treatment. Merlin has identified two medical workers capable of administering medical supplies and a former teacher who has been able to record patient data, within the population. The two islands on which the displaced are living cover a large length of the border. Even driving 25 km along the islands, the UN mission was unable to access the entire population, a key challenge to managing a potential manageable relief programme. Matthew Kahane, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Tajikistan, told IRIN that the two islands, border post 9 and 13, were two very different situations. “On island 13, the smaller of the two areas, people were in temporary shelters protected in some cases from the rain by roofing sheets. Drinking water was from the river and sanitation was non-existent. Food supplied will last between 5-10 days. There is a large number of children and men, no obvious presence of fighting men or military hardware, other than a few guns. There is an informal school functioning so children are occupied.” Kahane said that while the conditions on island 13 were “not great” it would be possible to distribute food directly to households to monitor its use and provide medical supplies on a regular basis. However he said island number nine was a “very different situation”. “To get access you have to go through a checkpoint of the Northern Alliance. There we saw a large group of well fed, well dressed fighters with some artillery. There are some solid houses as well as herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats. Many people there are better off than people inside Tajikistan in that general area. This group is more dominated by a military structure. It would be difficult to carry out food distribution direct to the households and to monitor use as distributions would be done by military commanders. However if we were to carry out an assistance programme on the other island, number 13, this would presumably draw people from island nine.” Kahane said that he heard reports that a number of families each night were continuing to cross the river and establish themselves on the islands. “All are coming across because of persecution and nobody we spoke to expected to return until there was a definite military outcome inside Afghanistan. They told us that even if the Taliban retook all these areas they would be able to return.” Head of UNHCR in Tajikistan, Taslimur Rahman, told IRIN that the people he saw were not able to exercise their free will to move to a safer area, possibly inside Tajikistan, because they were surrounded by commanders of the opposition Northern Alliance. “Those who have the opportunity look forward to a place where they are protected. That is not easily achieved.” There had been calls to move the displaced into existing camps further inside Afghanistan, an option which the majority of the UN’s Afghanistan country team dismissed as simply not viable as there was no spare coping capacity. Rahman said there were many difficulties in carrying out a full scale operation ‘in-situ’. “We would not be able to provide the desired assistance in terms of safety, livelihoods, health and education. The majority of these islands in the coming spring will be under water so we cannot begin any permanent relief operation such as building houses there. Any assistance there has to be low-key, we are not thinking of stopping assistance. We are thinking of continuing it in that area, but exactly how we do that needs to be discussed. Eventually we would have to bring them into one location that is secure and easier to invest resources in.”