U N I T E D  N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)
AFGHANISTAN: Aid convoy moves in from Iran
21 November 2001


ISLAMABAD, 21 November (IRIN) - While Iranian officials continue to keep
their side of the border sealed to a possible influx of new refugees,
Afghanistan's opposition Northern Alliance reopened the country's western
border for commercial traffic after closing it for nearly a day, a
spokesman for the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) in the Iranian border town of Dogharun told IRIN on
Wednesday. Security concerns and the closure from Monday evening until
Tuesday morning delayed over 300 trucks from crossing over.

"The Iranian border remains closed, but the Afghan side is now open," the
UNHCR spokesman, Mohammad Nouri, said on Wednesday. He said the Northern
Alliance made the move after taking control of the area from the Taliban.
Nouri went on to confirm that an important aid convoy, comprising 11
trucks from Iran's Red Crescent Society (IRCS) and four from UNHCR, had
passed into Afghanistan on Wednesday afternoon, the second such convoy in
less than a month.

The relief aid included 2,000 family size plastic sheetings and 10,000
blankets. Bound for the western Afghan city of Herat, the material would
be distributed to some of the 250,000 to 300,000 internally displaced
persons in six camps around the city, he said.

He said the convoy had been delayed for more than a week due to security
concerns arising from clashes reported to have taken place between the
Afghan border town of Eslam Qaleh and Herat.  The Iranian foreign ministry
later authorised the convoy to proceed following security assurances from
the Northern Alliance on Tuesday.

In its first convoy, the IRCS sent in 100 mt of food and non-food items,
with UNHCR monitoring and accompanying the convoy from the northeastern
city of Mashhad to the border.

Despite repeated calls by the UN to open its border should an influx
occur, Tehran maintains it can no longer host any additional Afghan
refugees. Instead, the government has proposed establishing a series of
camps inside Afghan territory along the 900-km common border - two of
which are currently operating adjacent to Sistan-Baluchestan Province. The
IRCS administers both the Mahkaki and Mile-46 camps, now inside Northern
Alliance-held territory, respectively housing about 5,000 and 3,000 newly
displaced people.


[IRIN-Asia: Tel: +92-51-2211451 Ext 480-4 Fax: +92-51-2211450
or+92-51-2211475 e-mail: irinasia@irin.org.pk]


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Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001


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