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UNHCR refugee convoy cancelled when road blocked

March 08, 2004

SHALMAN REFUGEE CAMP, Pakistan, 8 March (UNHCR) - The first UNHCR convoy to relocate refugees from an isolated camp near the Khyber Pass was forced to turn back on Monday when a main road was blocked by a violent demonstration between Pakistani tribal groups.

The convoy carrying 339 Afghans, the first of daily movements of refugees that is planned to empty Shalman Camp before the end of the month, left before dawn and was to reach Kotkai Camp in Bajaur Agency of the tribal belt late in the afternoon.

However, the convoy was halted in the tribal area just outside of Peshawar two hours after starting when a demonstration between two tribal groups blocked the road. The dispute, apparently triggered by the kidnapping and deaths of several children, erupted into violence, with stones being thrown at the U.N. convoy.

The windshield of one UNHCR vehicle was shattered but no one was injured. The convoy was ordered to return to Shalman as the dispute continued.

UNHCR is closing Shalman, located in a waterless valley where assistance is expensive and difficult to deliver, under a plan to consolidate camps as populations shrink with the return of refugees to Afghanistan.

Shalman and Kotkai were both established after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, which led to more fighting inside Afghanistan and a fresh wave of refugees. Some 300,000 Afghans fled their homeland at the time but the population of the "new" camps in Pakistan has since shrunk to 200,000, 49,000 in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) living in 10 camps.

In a January survey, 47 percent opted for repatriation, however since the beginning of the repatriation UNHCR believes that the numbers of returnees will increase.

The first residents of Shalman to repatriate, 67 families with 416 individuals left, for Afghanistan on Sunday. They organize their own transportation but UNHCR provides a travel grant to cover the cost.

UNHCR said it would send the convoy again on Tuesday, with an additional 14 families. In the meantime, more families were registered to move to Kotkai in a second convoy and others were registered to repatriate on Wednesday. The camp is expected to be cleared by about 23 March.

UNHCR resumed its voluntary repatriation programme from Pakistan this month. It has assisted 1.9 million Afghans to return in the past two years and estimates 400,000 could seek help to return this year.

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