Last Pyandz river refugees to return this week

The plight of thousands of Afghans stranded along the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan should end this week as the last group of displaced on the Pyandz river islands return home. Their presence - once estimated at 12,000 - has proven a major humanitarian concern since their arrival in the autumn of 2000. "This is wonderful news," UNHCR programme officer, Dost Yousafzai told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. "I expect the last refugees will be gone by Friday," he said, adding the last remaining group - comprised of 300 families or 1,500 people on Island No. 9 - the larger island of the two - were being assisted by UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Echoing this was IOM Chief of Mission, Igor Bosc, who credited strong coordination between UNHCR, IOM, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), the UK-based health NGO Merlin, and Russian and Tajik authorities for their active involvement in reaching this goal. "These people had been stranded - stuck between the Taliban and Russian border guards for over a year and a half," he told IRIN from Dushanbe. "Now that the Taliban are no longer there and assistance is available, one of the most major problems of displacement in the region has been solved," he exclaimed. The mostly ethnic Uzbek, Turkmen, Tajik and Pashtun Afghans fled their homes in northern Afghanistan after heavy fighting and advancing Taliban forces forced them to flee northward. Close to the front line, the Afghans settled on two islands along the border area in the river - now commonly referred to as Island 9 and Island 13/14 where they built makeshift huts made of reed. But the Afghans were classified as displaced persons as opposed to refugees due to an ill-defined border. This in itself made relief work particularly difficult, with aid workers having to be escorted by Russian border guards along poorly maintained, and in some cases, mined roads. Despite poor living conditions on the islands and strong international pressure, Tajikistan refused to admit the displaced Afghans, voicing security and economic concerns over a fresh influx of refugees. According to an OCHA report in December 2000, people on the islands were threatened by continued shelling from the Taliban side, severe weather conditions and a lack of basic necessities. "Aid agencies have experienced difficulties accessing this population," the report added. Access proved a major problem for aid workers, with relief work continually hindered by political red tape and bureaucracy in securing entry permission from border authorities. Later in March 2001, UNHCR suspended its relief effort to the islands because of a report raising concerns of combatants on the sites - only to resume operations in October 2001 following the demise of the Taliban regime. "For us this was a natural solution for us to go back in. The so-called fighters went back by themselves," Yousafzai explained. As part of the UN assistance package to returnees, in addition to transportation back to Afghanistan proper, returnees receive plastic sheeting, some non-food related items, and 100 kg of wheat to facilitate their return to their place of origin. Most of the returning families live in close proximity to the border area - the furthest being 20 to 30 km from the river. The other island - known as island No. 13/14 and only three to four square km, had emptied three weeks earlier when between 1,500 and 2,000 Afghans spontaneously went home unassisted, Yousafzai explained. However, according to aid workers, inhabitants of the island were informed that assistance would no longer be forthcoming. Additionally, there was a lack of awareness that the international community would be able to assist them to return - hence accounting for them spontaneously returning instead. Commenting on this week's operations, Merlin Head of Mission in Tajikistan, Paul Handley told IRIN that the population had always expressed a wish to return, noting the set up there was simply not sustainable. The Tajik and Russian authorities had clearly wanted this move and were collaborating with their Afghan counterparts to make it happen after the Nimrouz holiday (Iranian New Year), he explained. "Our only concern had been the capacity of the communities these people were returning to - to cope with additional arrivals of largely vulnerable people," he cautioned, adding, however, UNHCR had given its assurance that it would look again at the returnees' situation two weeks after the repatriation had been completed.