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Posted on 11/16/2001 1:25:03 PM PST by B.Bumbleberry

From IOM Press Briefing Notes - 16 November 2001 Afghanistan - Update

IOM's Director General Brunson McKinley, who is on an official visit to Iran, visited Herat in Western Afghanistan on Wednesday and Thursday.

The city, where IOM co-ordinates relief efforts to some 200,000 displaced people in the Maslakh and Shaidayee camps, fell to mujaheddin led by former governor Ismael Khan earlier in the week.

Mr McKinley, who visited Herat at the invitation of Ismael Khan and with the support of the Iranian authorities, met with the new governor general and his deputy, Haji Mir Abdul Khalek, as well as IOM staff.

Both Afghan officials praised IOM's activities in Herat, pledging future support for IOM's work in the camps and promising to facilitate IOM cross-border relief convoys from the Iranian city of Mashad.

Over the past month, IOM's bi-weekly convoys have brought in some 50,000 blankets and other relief items to help camp residents to survive the winter. IOM has also provided over 5 million mud bricks and roofing materials to allow the IDPs to construct traditional shelters.

Describing Herat as calm, McKinley said that the rapid fall of the city seemed to have been triggered by popular opposition to the Taliban and widespread public support for Ismael Khan. According to reports in Herat, underground resistance groups rose up when news of the fall of Kabul arrived. The Taliban and their foreign supporters left without a major fight.

The achievements of IOM's 75 Afghan staff in Herat, who have continued to work in the camps through the evacuation of foreign nationals, the allied bombing and Taliban harassment, were, he said, remarkable.

Citing an IOM convoy that was yesterday permitted to travel directly from Mashad to Herat without trans-shipment to Afghan trucks at the border, he said that the tangible relaxation of tension at the Iranian-Afghan border meant that the prospects for an improved aid corridor looked excellent.

McKinley also noted the urgent need to reopen Herat airport, which was slightly damaged in the bombing. This could become a lifeline for humanitarian aid to the drought-stricken West and North of the country, he said.

Another pressing need, he noted, was to improve the 125-km stretch of road from the Iranian border, which he described as atrocious.

Today Mr McKinley will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Iranian Red Crescent in Teheran. Tomorrow and Sunday he is scheduled to meet with President Khatami and Iranian government ministers.

Iran, which became an IOM Observer State of IOM in 1995, will join 86 other nations to become a full member of the rapidly growing inter-governmental organisation later this month.

In Northern Afghanistan, IOM is concerned with the safety of its local staff in Kunduz where no contact has been possible for five consecutive days.

In Faryab province, the IOM office in Andkhoi reports that the staff is safe and that a stock of 4,000 winter jackets remains untouched. Contact with IOM staff in Maimana remains impossible.

In Mazar-e- Sharif, its is now confirmed that the IOM office was looted of everything, including of furniture and plumbing. Local IOM staff and their families are safe.

IOM is increasing the delivery of humanitarian assistance from Uzbekistan. Yesterday, IOM trucks left Dushanbe for the border town of Farkhar with 2,000 cooking sets, which will be distributed by Concern International to IDPs in Northern Takhar province. On Wednesday, IOM transported stove heaters, cooking sets, blankets, jackets, buckets and soap for IDPs stranded on islands in the middle on the Pandj river. The aid is being distributed by UNICEF, UNHCR and Merlin.

To date, Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United States have confirmed their support of the IOM Afghanistan programme. So far, IOM has received US$7.28 million. As part of the UN appeal, IOM requested US$29.2 million for its humanitarian activities in Afghanistan for the next six months.

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