UN and relief workers anxious to resume work in Kandahar

The United Nations and aid agencies were anxious to resume crucial relief operations in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar but were waiting for the security situation to stabilise, humanitarian workers told IRIN on Tuesday. "Whenever the situation is safe in terms of passage, we are ready to go back," spokesman for the UN's children fund UNICEF, Chulho Hyun, told IRIN. Hyun described Kandahar - the former headquarters and spiritual home of the ousted Taliban movement - as a blind spot from where very little information was emerging due to fighting and poor security. National UNHCR staff had been unable to work in the city for several days, he added. Similar suspension of activities was reported by several other agencies. UN officials said that a security assessment of the city and the entire southern region bordering Pakistan needed to be urgently conducted. International UN and aid agency staff evacuated Kandahar soon after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. The Taliban, who sheltered Osama bin Laden, remained in control of the historic Afghan town till 7 December, despite losing control of more than 90 percent of the country to the Northern Alliance (NA) and tribal militias. Most recent relief work has been carried out by national Afghan staff after the withdrawal of international colleagues, but many had to abandon work because of lootings and fighting. World Food Programme (WFP) officials said their work, in common with other agencies, almost stopped in recent weeks because of poor security in the city. "The entire southern region has not received food deliveries over the past two weeks because of the security situation. If this situation continues and the war is protracted, suffering will continue, displacement may increase and in many cases, people will die," Stephanie Bunker, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan said last week. WFP has not been able to send aid into Kandahar for the past few weeks where some 238,000 people were in need of food aid. WFP officials have ruled out the possibility of food airdrops because it was not safe enough for the staff to distribute it on the ground. WFP was also facing problems in recruiting truck drivers in the western Pakistani city of Quetta. The drivers are reluctant to cross the border and drive into Kandahar for fear of being caught up in the ongoing conflict. The drivers were apparently also apprehensive of friction between local tribes in the area and security problems on the road to Kandahar. Despite the unstable security situation in the area, local UNHCR repatriation assistant, Muhammad Yunus, was planning to cross back into Afghanistan to Kandahar on Wednesday. "I have decided to go. What I have learnt is that things are under control," Yunus told IRIN from Quetta. The UNHCR office, which had about 30 national staff in Kandahar, was closed and Yunus said he intended to call other staff left in the southern city to try to re-open the office. He added that he did not know how many of his Afghan colleagues would still be there.