8 - 14 November 2001
Issue No.559
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 8 - 14 November 2001 Issue No.559 |
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Between the devil and the deep blue sea
Insecurity and tighter controls on asylum seekers have added to the looming human disaster of the Afghan refugees, writes Mervat Diab
In the wake of the 11 September attacks in New York and Washington, international relief organisations issued urgent appeals for up to $650 million to save the millions of Afghans who they feared would leave their country, fleeing from imminent US air strikes. More than two million Afghans were expected to leave, joining four million refugees already in Pakistan and Iran. UN relief agencies warned of widespread famine. It was widely feared that displaced Afghans would prove a fertile breeding ground for new recruits for the Taliban.
Yet, five weeks after US attacks began, the number of new Afghan refugees in neighbouring states is barely a fraction of the anticipated figure. A mere 80,000 have amassed along the Pakistani and Iranian borders, according to Kenneth Baccon, president of the International Relief Organisation. A relief worker at the border said that the displaced Afghans are in fact stranded in "no-man's land" just inside Afghanistan. Aid organisations have put out a plea for help to the world community. They do not believe that the tragedy has been averted. In fact, they say, a humanitarian crisis is imminent in this volatile region.
When US air strikes began, the ruling Taliban movement asked foreign relief workers to leave Afghanistan. Most of the aid agencies complied, shifting their operations to Pakistan. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) prepared a "temporary staging site" about a mile inside Pakistan, near the Chaman border crossing. Other relief agencies followed suit. Most relief organisations set up shop along the borders of neighbouring countries -- Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
Afghan refugees have tended to head towards either Pakistan or Iran. However, Pakistan, which plays host to almost 2 million refugees, recently decided that it had had enough and closed its borders. Only people with valid documents were allowed into the country.
Explaining his country's stand, Pakistani President General Pervez Musharaf said, "Our point of view has always been that we must establish camps across the border inside Afghanistan and all assistance to refugees must be given there." Iran, which is host to 1.5 million Afghans, seems to agree with the general. Its Red Crescent Society has identified nine relief sites to be located just inside Afghanistan along the 900-kilometer frontier between the two countries.
Those Afghans who braved the long journey to the border-crossings now find themselves trapped in a no-man's land. Because they have not crossed borders, they enjoy none of the rights of refugees. Their status is that of the "internally displaced" in their own country. But neither their tribes nor humanitarian agencies can reach them.
Marc Biot, who works for Medecin Sans Frontieres (MSF), believes the relatively small numbers of new refugees can be explained by other factors. After a decade of civil war and drought, Afghans are exhausted and cannot meet their basic needs themselves. "Most of the elderly, the women and the young cannot afford the ordeal of a long trip toward the neighbouring countries," said Biot.
Youssef Hassan, the UNHCR spokesman in Pakistan, told Al-Ahram Weekly that there had been attempts by the Pakistanis to prevent people from coming to the Chaman border crossing. Pakistani officials have even handed over 2,000 men to the Taliban. Hassan expressed concern for the civilian refugees who are now mixed up with Taliban fighters at this camp. "They could easily be the next targets of US attacks," he said.
UNHCR spokeswoman Fatoumata Kaba is worried for other reasons. Camps inside Afghanistan are becoming increasingly militarised, she said. "It is a real fear because we have seen this before in other camps in African countries like Rwanda, and Afghan refugees are telling us that the Taliban are distributing guns to people who do not want to fight," said Kaba.
The Taliban actually helped establish the border camps, a move which has increased the allegations that they use these camps to recruit displaced persons by force.
The UNHCR, meanwhile, faces criticism for being too politicised. The organisation was set up as a protection agency for refugees, "but it seems to be more concerned with moving money around, setting things up and not providing protection," said James Nichols of the UK charity Oxfam. "There is general frustration among NGOs (non-governmental organisations) about that. They're all sitting here and can't do anything," added Nichols.
"History repeats itself but in an unkind way," according to Pierre Salignon, director of the MSF programme. "When the Taliban destroyed the Buddha statues and the whole world was up in arms over it, the Afghans had already suffered three years of acute drought and no one thought about helping." At the time, he added, "the United Nations were content to give the impression that the crisis could be easily resolved if only donor countries could be persuaded to provide more aid." This time round, all relief organisations have joined the UN in their emergency appeals for cash. Meanwhile, the 1.5 million Afghan refugees have yet to materialise.
There is still no accurate assessment of how many refugees have already arrived, or may eventually arrive if the situation worsens. UN agencies are left to rely on assumptions when planning the future aid operation. UN reports estimate that $584 million will be required to ensure the delivery of humanitarian assistance and protection programmes for up to 7.5 million Afghans. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has also launched an appeal for 47 million Swiss francs to cover the cost of its operation until the end of 2001. The ICRC wants to assist up to 540,000 people. The Red Cross and Red Crescent Federation says it is adopting a measured approach. Its initial aim is to deliver basic relief assistance to some 300,000 people.
Before the US military action, 5.5 million Afghans were already extremely vulnerable and partially or fully dependent on food assistance for survival, according to UN reports. "The number of people requiring food support may increase by as many as two million if families have no food at their points of origin and are displaced for other reasons. Household food reserves are extremely low in certain areas with famine-like conditions in some," one report said. Currently, food distribution has decreased drastically due to closure of borders, insecurity and the breakdown of local transportation systems.
None of the relief and humanitarian organisations has considered stocking long-term food supplies in their warehouses in the Taliban-controlled areas. This is surprising, considering the agencies' projections that more than five million Afghans will certainly stay inside the country and only two million will leave.
The ICRC said it had food stocks for three weeks but that its warehouses were bombed by American jets twice. MSF said it has food supplies for up to three months inside Afghanistan. With very few exceptions, agency operations inside Afghanistan have come to a standstill. The "existing stocks are almost at their limit and unless we and other organisations are able to resume large-scale operations soon, the situation will deteriorate even further," according to Sally Austin, a director of CARE Afghanistan.
Irish charity Concern Worldwide called for "aid corridors" to be established and has demanded a halt in military activities to facilitate the humanitarian operation. A break in fighting was also requested by a host of other organisations: AlertNet, Action Aid, CAFOD, Christen Aid, Islamic Relief, OXFAM International and Tearfund. But the United States has refused appeals to halt military attacks to give relief agencies a chance to replenish food stocks.
Afghans now face two major challenges. The first is the onset of winter; the second is the unexploded devices which litter the country. Before the US operation, Afghanistan already had more land mines than any other country. Now, US cluster bombs can be added to the hazards. They have already killed nine civilians in Afghanistan, and are expected to produce more casualties in the long term. These bombs have a notorious history of killing civilians during peace time as well as during war, according to Peter Le Sueur, a technical adviser for the UN Mine Action Program in Afghanistan (MAPA).
According to MAPA, the cluster bombs which the US are using probably contained hundreds of bomblets called Bomb Live Units (BLU) 97, which are the size of small soft-drinks bottles. According to Le Sueur, one of their most savage features are their six-millimeter diamond-patterned steel jackets. "When the bomb explodes, the steel splits so you get hundreds of high-velocity steel fragments travelling at the speed of a rifle bullet," he said. "They can kill or injure people from over 100 metres (330 feet) from the point of detonation." To add to the danger, "they are of bright yellow color and look quite innocuous, so they are attractive to children."
Likewise, the harsh Afghan winter presents a sizeable challenge. Tearfund, a UK-based aid agency, used to run winter shelters in Afghanistan, but problems of access prevent them doing the same this year. "We estimate that more than five million lives are at risk," said the agency. Tearfund Disaster Response Team Programme Manager Nigel Timmins -- who lived in Kabul for two years -- told theWeekly that "Many families, in a bid to keep warm, build a fire in a brazier under a low table (a 'sandali'). Then the whole family sleeps with their feet under the table and large blankets over themselves, so they are sharing both heat from the coals and their body warmth. But when malnourished and unwell people share body heat and breath in this way, respiratory infections can quickly take hold."
So unlike in African famine situations, the Afghans must combine hunger with a fight to retain body heat. This is a particular risk for children and the elderly. According to Timmins, the situation is nearly hopeless. "Allowing for 10kg of food ration per month per person, it would take something like 300 trucks a day to deliver enough food into Afghanistan. Quite simply we are not going to get enough food into the country before winter really starts to bite."
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