UNHCR suspends relief to Pyandj fearing aid to fighters

UNHCR's relief operations to 10,000 Afghan displaced stranded on Pyandj river flood plains on the Tajik-Afghan border have been suspended for fear of supporting armed fighters living within the population. UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Tajikistan, Matthew Kahane, told IRIN on Monday that the decision had been taken by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers in Geneva following a fact-finding mission to the border led by Mustapha Djemali, Central Asia regional director, from 18-21 February. According to Kahane, the "fundamental issue" which prompted the suspension of UNHCR operations was the "presence of combatants" among the Afghans displaced in Pyandj. The decision was relayed to Tajik authorities in the capital Dushanbe on Monday, he said. The Afghans are in an area to which access is controlled by the Tajik authorities and the Russian Border Forces in Tajikistan. Mixed up with the civilian population who fled the Taliban's advance into northern Afghanistan and have been camped on the Pyandj river flood plains since November are a group of armed fighters of the opposition Northern Alliance. Initial relief efforts were targeted at the most vulnerable, predominantly women and children. However, the UNHCR mission found that assistance was also reaching and supporting combatants, constituting a misuse of relief supplies intended solely for the civilian population. The 18-21 February mission report concluded that the refugee agency would only re-engage in future assistance if the Tajik government met three conditions: that the combatants be clearly separated from the civilians or withdrawn; that the population living on the flood plain opposite 'Border Post 13' amid precarious health and security conditions be relocated to the more settled area opposite 'Border Post 9'; and that the Tajik authorities, together with Russian Border Forces in Tajikistan, provide free and unrestricted access to the Afghans by UN and NGO personnel. Until these conditions were met, "UNHCR should not intervene with the Afghans at the Tajik/Afghan border," the report said. Once the issues had been addressed, UNHCR and its partners would be in a position to conduct a comprehensive survey and registration of the civilian population so that protection and assistance could be targeted to those in need, it added. The UNHCR report stated that the implementation of the three conditions was not the responsibility of the refugee agency but of the Tajik authorities. According to Kahane, separation of the combatants from civilians could feasibly be carried out by Tajik authorities and was a standard requirement for UNHCR to be able to provide any assistance. Despite the suspension, the February mission found that the situation of the population on the border was "better than the situation of other Afghans internally displaced in Afghanistan and of the Afghan new arrivals in Jalozai (in Pakistan)." In its report, the assessment team said the population at the Pyandj site appeared to have "stabilised". People were living in makeshift shelters on a small flood plain and in permanent shelters on a bigger one nearby. Food and medicine had been provided and water was available, though the quality was reportedly not fit for human consumption, it said. The report found that many of the families - mainly ethnic Uzbeks and Tajiks, with a Pashtoon minority - had gone back and forth to Afghanistan to bring their assets and, in some cases, their livestock. The actual number of newly arrived Afghans also appeared to be fewer than the 10,000 reported by the media, it said. It appeared that whenever assessment missions visited the islands, the Northern Alliance commanders would assemble the entire population, including permanent and semi-permanent residents on the larger flood plain, to demonstrate a large presence of displaced civilians, it added. "We are all expressing concern about the current situation. What we would like to continue is the health assistance which is self-targeting, but we will have to look into that," Kahane said.