UNHCR prepares for potential Afghan influx

An official of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Iranian capital, Tehran, told IRIN on Wednesday that the Iranian Red Crescent Society, the Iranian government and itself were ready to assist up to 400,000 new Afghan refugees along the border area if necessary.

The announcement follows growing anticipation of an American-led retaliatory strike against Osama bin Laden, who is suspected to be still inside Afghanistan and is wanted in connection with the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, USA, on 11 September.

"These [400,000 people mentioned] are just planning figures - what they will be in reality remains to be seen," UNHCR spokesman Mohammad Nouri told IRIN. "We would hope that if such an influx occurs, there would be strong international support from the humanitarian community to assist."

Nouri maintained that, while there had been no reports of an influx in and around the Iranian border as yet, the refugee agency was carefully monitoring the situation through its sub-offices in the cities of Mashhad and Zahedan, in the eastern provinces of Khorsan and Sistan-Baluchestan.

Those two provinces share more than 900 km of border with Afghanistan and there is growing concern that, in the event of military strikes on terrorist targets in Afghanistan, thousands of civilians may attempt to cross the frontier.

On 18 September, Nouri said, UNHCR sent relief items to its sub-office in Mashhad, the provincial capital of Khorsan, which is the largest province bordering Afghanistan. The supplies were later stockpiled in the cities of Torbat-e Jam, Taybad, Khaf, Qaen, Birjand, and Nehvandan as a contingency measure. The deliveries included 500 eight-man tents, plastic sheeting and blankets.

Asked what would happen if a larger influx of Afghans arrived, Nouri said: "Although the border is closed, we are hopeful that if an influx takes place that we can rely on the Iranian humanitarian policy and generosity they have extended in the past to continue."

There were over 2,355,000 Afghans registered in Iran as of July 2001, according to figures provided by the Interior Ministry. Nouri said that more than 95 percent of foreign aliens were integrated into Iranian society, of whom Afghans were the vast majority. "This demonstrates the generosity and hospitality of the Iranian government towards Afghans," he added.

Less than five percent of the Afghan population in Iran lives in refugee camps, according to Nouri.

Meanwhile, discussions in Iran continue regarding the possible establishment of eight new camps inside Afghanistan, along the Iranian border, for internally-displaced people (IDPs).

If assistance were required for newly-displaced people within Afghanistan, the Iranian Red Crescent Society was ready to play its part, the Director-General of its International Affairs department, Mostafa Mohaghegh, told IRIN on Wednesday.

"We have prepared a contingency plan to respond to such a crisis inside Afghanistan, but the involvement and support of other international organisations is needed," he said.

"We hope not to see such an influx of IDPs, nor that any of these people face difficulties should such a disaster occur, but it would be our humanitarian responsibility to help such victims," Mohaghegh added.

The nongovernmental organisation Refugees International on Wednesday cited estimates that as many as 1.5 million new Afghan refugees could be generated by the current geo-political crisis, plus more than half a million additional displaced and vulnerable people within Afghanistan.

UNHCR estimated there were almost four million Afghan refugees before the latest crisis, the bulk of them in Pakistan and Iran.