Afghan refugees staying on

A spokesman for the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tajikistan has dismissed a report saying that thousands of Afghan refugees on the Tajik/Afghan border had gone home. "We visited the area last week and know that the population has remained consistent," Aurvasi Patel, a protection officer for UNHCR in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, told IRIN on Tuesday, adding that regular assessments were being made in the area. Patel's comments follow an AFP report quoting an Afghan dignitary in Tajikistan, who reportedly made the statement that UNHCR now describes as incorrect. About 10,000 Afghans had been living on islands in the Pyandhz river since November 2000, where they had established homes and were unwilling to leave the area until the winter was over, Patel stressed. "The refugees are receiving assistance where they are, and many have told us that they do not want to move yet, and we support their decision," she added. This view was reinforced by aid workers from Merlin, a British-based nongovernmental organisation providing refugees at the site with medical assistance. "We are still seeing the same number of patients, and have not seen a dramatic increase in any way," Paul Handley, a spokesman for the Merlin in Dushanbe, told IRIN. Most of the refugees had left their homes in the northern Afghan town of Emam Saheb in the northern province of Konduz. Patel said the situation in Afghanistan was still unclear in some areas. Although a few refugees had said they had been back to their places of origin to assess the situation, they had found many of their homes destroyed, leaving them with nowhere to live. Others had said they still had family members living in Konduz, but conditions remained poor, she added. "There is also no infrastructure there, such as education for their children, and many wanted to remain on the islands until the start of the Islamic new year in March," she explained. When the refugees decided to return, UNHCR would facilitate them through its repatriation programme, which would be consistent with other repatriation efforts in the region. "Obviously they will vary slightly depending on which country the Afghan refugees had been living in, but in general it will be the same," Patel said. Transport would be provided to take the refugees to the border and, in this case, UNHCR might even be able to take them across to their place of origin, as it was nearby, she said. Once back in Afghanistan, the refugees would also be receiving some financial assistance and non-food items from the agency. The UN has yet to establish how soon it can provide assistance in Emam Saheb, pending the security situation there. Gaining access to the refugees on the Pyandhz river has proved to be a difficult task for aid workers in Tajikistan. "Obtaining permits can be very time-consuming," Patel said. However, following meetings on Tuesday between UN officials and government representatives in Dushanbe this process should become easier. "Following our meetings, I don't think there will be problems in the future in getting permits for the border area," the UN's resident coordinator for Tajikistan, Matthew Kahane, told IRIN.