Hundreds displaced in Helmand: Red Crescent

The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) says about 500 families in Helmand Province have been temporarily forced out of their homes following recent military operations there by Afghan government and NATO forces.

 

“People have been displaced in Garmsir, Nad Ali and Sangheen districts where military operations have been going on,” Ahmadullah Ahmadi, provincial director of ARCS, told IRIN. The Society says it has dozens of workers in Helmand.

 

People had fled to nearby areas, and some had moved to the provincial capital, Lashkargah, to live with relatives, he added.

 

However, the claim is disputed by Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand. “Some families that use displacement as a business to receive aid might have moved in some areas,” he told IRIN.

 

UK and Afghan forces recently launched a military operation in Nad Ali District’s Sayedabad area where insurgents are reportedly very active. US forces are also engaged in similar operations in the nearby Marjah area.

 

The aim is to drive back the insurgents and create an environment in which development activities can take place, the UK Defence Ministry said in a 30 July statement.

 

Over 2,000 of the 3,700-4,000 families displaced from their homes in the Marjah area during a large-scale military operation in February have remained in Lashkargah for security reasons, provincial head of the refugee affairs department, Farooq Noorzai, told IRIN.

 

“People say the situation in Marjah is not good for them to return,” he said, adding that most families were living in rented rooms and some migrant workers had returned to their own houses.

 

Officials said those displaced from Marjah received food and non-food aid in February-March, but had had no assistance in the past four months.

 

Despite being pushed back, Taliban insurgents still wield extensive influence in Marjah and regularly assassinate and harass local people, plant improvised explosive devices and block development projects, according to local residents and aid workers.

 

Contingency plans

 

The provincial government has appealed for aid for 3,800 families in a move designed to enable a prompt humanitarian response in the event of military operations in the next two months. The government wants to stabilize Helmand before the 18 September parliamentary elections.



“This is a contingency plan for the future military operations in Kajaki, Musa Qala, Baghran and other districts,” said the governor’s spokesman, Dawood Ahmadi, adding that an appeal had been sent to UN agencies.

 

UN agencies are not present in Helmand Province for security reasons but use local partners such as government bodies and NGOs to carry out aid projects. The UN withdrew most of its international staff from neighbouring Kandahar Province in April.



Challiss MacDonough, a spokeswoman for the UN World Food Programme (WFP), said WFP had food stocks in Lashkargah which could be used immediately in case of an emergency, adding: “WFP does not generally approve contingency stocks because we have the ability to respond immediately when humanitarian needs arise.”



A report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan says civilian casualties were up sharply in the first half of 2010, especially in the southern provinces.



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