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UNHCR says relocation from Shalman proceeding smoothly

March 10, 2004

ISLAMABAD, 10 March (UNHCR) - The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday the relocation of about 5,000 residents of Shalman Camp in Khyber Agency to use some of the available space in Kotkai Camp in Bajaur Agency was proceeding without any problems.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees was responding to an erroneous report in The Nation newspaper that said tribesmen in Bajaur Agency had attacked a UN convoy carrying some 400 refugees to Kotkai on Tuesday, delaying their arrival at the camp by three hours.

The closure of Shalman - with about half the population asking to repatriate to Afghanistan and half choosing to move to Kotkai - is the first step in a consolidation of refugee camps established to house Afghans fleeing the 2001 fighting in their homeland.

"There was no protest against the arrival of the refugees and the report is totally unfounded" said Masti Notz, the head of the UNHCR sub-office in Peshawar which is supervising the relocation from Shalman Camp.

The start of the convoy had been delayed by one day because of a dispute between tribesmen that halted all traffic out of the Khyber Agency on Monday. However, that protest was over killings by rival Pakistani tribesmen and did not involve refugees or UNHCR.

About 5,000 refugees from Shalman, which is being closed before the end of March, will be relocated to Kotkai, not the 10,000 reported by the newspaper. They will join the existing 11,000 refugees at Kotkai, which has government approval for 20,000 refugees.

Kotkai is actually composed of two separate sections - Kotkai I with a present population of 7,000 and Kotkai II with a population of 4,000. It does not have 30,000 residents as reported by The Nation.

Notz said there was full consultation with the national and provincial governments as well as local authorities and landowners before the plan to close Shalman Camp was finalised in 2003. Shalman has a shrinking population and is located in a barren area where it is difficult and costly to provide assistance. All water has to be brought by UNHCR tanker trucks.

A second convoy to Kotkai left Shalman on Wednesday at dawn. Separately, a second group of refugees wishing to return to Afghanistan was assisted to leave Pakistan on Wednesday. The first group to repatriate left Shalman on Sunday.

All the camps, including Kotkai, have space available because of the return of refugees under UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme over the past two years. The programme of consolidation to improve efficiency as refugees return will continue in both North West Frontier Province and Balochistan.

The relocation programme, with camp residents offered a choice of repatriation or relocation to another existing refugee camp, is totally separate and unrelated to a possible decision by the Government of Pakistan to move all refugees presently living in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas deeper into Pakistan because of security concerns.