IOM set to launch major returnee programme

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is preparing for a major returnee programme in western Afghanistan. Set to begin next week at the Maslakh internally displaced persons (IDP) camp near Herat, it will be the first IDP return programme there since 11 September. "Some 90,000 people are expected to participate over a nine month period," the IOM chief for western Afghanistan, Rafael Robillard, told IRIN in Herat. "Everything has improved. There has been some rain, security has improved, and assistance to affected areas is being provided," he said. As part of the programme, IOM will provide participants with seeds, tools, fertilisers and transportation. "IOM is now focusing on the return of residents to their place of origin," he added. The programme is tentatively set to begin on Wednesday. His comments came less than a week after IOM completed a massive re-registration at Maslakh, one of the largest IDP camps in the world, 20 km west of the provincial capital, Herat. While formal results of the six-day operation were still being calculated, it was expected the camp's population would be 114,000 - a significant drop from its original official figure of 300,000 during the time of the Taliban. The camp has been closed to new arrivals since 10 February. Although no additional influx of displacement was expected in Herat in the wake of Maslakh's closure to new arrivals, UN officials have decided to utilise the nearby Shaidayee camp should any influx occur. "Conditions at Shaidayee are fairly well established if you compare them to Maslakh," the IOM camp manager at Shaidayee, John Dwyer, told IRIN. "While we are not expecting any additional people to the area, we could accommodate an additional 5,000 if need be." Located 12 km east of Herat, Shaidayee has some 24,000 residents and a capacity of almost 30,000. In addition to Shaidayee, IOM administers three other displacement camps in the Herat area - Maslakh, Minaret 1 and Minaret 2. The Minaret camps, with some 6,000 residents, are currently at full capacity. However, Dwyer did not expect a large number of new arrivals. "Our return programme will be fully operating soon and I expect people to be returning to their villages of origin," he said. "People are interested in going back." Since the closure of Maslakh to new arrivals, Shaidayee has seen the arrival of an average of four families per day, most of them from western Afghanistan's drought-affected Badghis Province. "This is a small amount and indicates that people are choosing to stay home," he noted. After two decades of war and the worst drought in living memory, in addition to almost four million Afghan refugees living in neighbouring countries, the United Nations maintains that some one million are internally displaced in Afghanistan.