Repatriation from southern exit point suspended

As its massive effort to help hundreds of thousands of Afghans to go home from Iran voluntarily this year continues, the office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has temporarily suspended its use of the southern Milak border crossing, citing security concerns.

"The outbreak of more clashes in the Zaranj area, just across the border with Iran, on 31 May has again disrupted voluntary repatriation operations at the southern crossing of Milak," a UNHCR spokeswoman, Laura O'Mahony, told IRIN from the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Tuesday. "All returns through Milak have been postponed until further notice," she said.

Located in Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province, Milak is one of two border crossing points being utilised by UNHCR to facilitate the return of Afghans from Iran. Meanwhile, the Dogharun crossing point to the north in Iran's Khorasan Province remains fully operational.

According to O'Mahony, a convoy of Afghan returnees scheduled to be repatriated from the southern city of Zahedan through Milak on Sunday had to be diverted to Dogharun. A total of 254 people had accepted the alternative routing, while another convoy scheduled for Monday from the nearby town of Zabol was also being diverted, she added.

The move follows similar arrangements being made in April when fighting north of Zaranj, capital of Afghanistan's Nimruz Province, delayed the opening of the Milak crossing for almost a month.

Under the terms of a tripartite accord signed in Geneva on 3 April between Iran, Afghanistan and UNHCR, the voluntary repatriation effort envisions the return of up to 400,000 Afghans from Iran this year alone. Host to one of the largest Afghan refugee populations in the world, the country shares a 936-km common border with Afghanistan.

Since the joint programme between UNHCR and Tehran began on 9 April, a total of 62,997 refugees, or almost 8,500 families, have gone home from Iran. This number represents about 16 percent of the 400,000 targeted for this year, or approximately 1,500 persons per working day.

A total of 60,084 people, including 7,963 families, have been repatriated via Dogharun, making it easily the primary exit point for Afghans wishing to return from Iran, while 2,913 people, comprising 518 families, have returned via Milak since it opened on 4 May.

Earlier the UN estimated that there were well over two million Afghans in Iran, making it, alongside Pakistan, one of the countries hosting the greatest number of Afghan refugees today. Under a parallel repatriation programme launched on 1 March, well over 800,000 Afghans have returned from Pakistan.