AFGHANISTAN: UNHCR withdraws international staff from south and east

Photo: David Swanson/IRIN

UNHCR has assisted millions of Afghans in their bid to return home

KABUL , 19 November 2003 (IRIN) - The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is withdrawing its international staff from the troubled southern and eastern provinces, as well as reducing the number of its local staff on the ground, four days after a French UNHCR staff worker was shot dead in the southern city of Ghazni. Although described as a temporary measure, the move will undoubtedly have an adverse effect on the agency's repatriation effort from neighbouring Pakistan. "We are taking today a painful decision to temporarily reduce staff in eastern and southern provinces, withdrawing 30 international staff members from the border area," Filipo Grandi, UNHCR’s chief of mission for Afghanistan, said in a statement on Tuesday. The move follows the death of Bettina Goislard, a 29-year-old French national, who was sitting in an agency vehicle when she was shot dead by two gunmen in Ghazni on Sunday. Her driver, an Afghan national, was slightly wounded in the attack. Her death, the first involving an international UN staff member since the fall of the Taliban two years ago, comes amid growing security concerns within the aid community in the country. On 11 November, a vehicle belonging to the mine clearance-agency, Handicap International-Belgium, with two national staff on board, hit a newly laid landmine near the southern city of Kandahar. Hours later, a car bomb went off at the regional office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in the southern city of Kandahar. And on Tuesday, a driver from the Mine Detection Dog Centre, an implementing partner of The UN Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan was abducted and robbed and his vehicle stolen. Of particular concern now is the impact an interruption of aid work will have on the troubled region, let alone on the nation as a whole. UNHCR is one of the primary agencies in Afghanistan, with extensive activities inside and outside the country in the context of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Since 2002, the agency has assisted in the return of 3 million Afghan refugees and IDPs. "As a consequence [of the suspension], the reception centres in Nangarhar, Paktia, Khowst and Kandahar provinces will be closed. We will review the situation after two weeks," Grandi said. He added that the agency’s decision, which had been explained to the Afghan government, would mostly affect returns from Pakistan. Refugee departure centres in the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Quetta had already been closed on Monday. However, the UNHCR would try to reduce the impact of the suspension on returnees, IDPs and local communities, "because they don’t deserve to be punished for the crimes of a few terrorists", Grandi said. Meanwhile, the UNAMA told IRIN on Wednesday that it supported UNHCR’s decision, noting, however, that the other UN agencies had not suspended their activities in those areas. "Obviously, we support whatever measure UNHCR takes, because they are part of the UN family. We understand that whatever actions they are taking now are generally aimed at boosting the morale of their staff, and at acknowledging the tragic loss of a very valuable staff member, and we support them," David Singh, the UNAMA media relations officer, said. According to UNAMA, only its road missions in the affected provinces had been suspended. "We have suspended our road missions, not activities. There is, however, movement by UN staff from guest houses and homes to their offices," he stressed, rejecting reports that the UN had been scaling back its operations in southern Afghanistan. "These actions are heinous and war crimes. We will not allow these actions to deter us from [discharging the] responsibility that we have before the Afghan people," Singh stressed, adding that these were interim measures and would be reviewed in two weeks' time. Despite the UNHCR's decision, the agency said repatriations of returnees from Iran would continue through the western border in Herat Province, adding that assistance to 220,000 IDPs and other life-sustaining activities would continue with the help of Afghan staff and its local partners. UNHCR said arrangements for the funeral of the slain UNHCR worker were being made this week. "The body of Bettina Goislard will be buried in Afghanistan to fulfil her will," said a UNHCR press statement.