MAZAR-I SHARIF, 26 June 2008 (IRIN) - An estimated 9,000 people who abandoned their homes in the Alburz District of Balkh Province, northern Afghanistan, over a month ago and camped near Mazar-i Sharif have now agreed to go back to their homes, UN agencies and provincial officials said.

Agreement was achieved after aid agencies and provincial government bodies assured the internally displaced persons (IDPs) that aid and support would be delivered to them when they returned to home.

"The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development will deliver drinking water to Alburz residents by water tankers and food aid will be distributed to the neediest families," Asif Khairkhwah, president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) in Balkh, told IRIN on 26 June.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it would deliver 50 tonnes of mixed food aid to 1,000 families in Alburz District.

"We are currently doing a registration of IDPs who are willing to return," said Khairkhwah, adding that free transport would be provided for returning families.

Up to 1,800 families - an estimated 9,000 individuals - have been displaced from Alburz and surrounding areas due to drought and food insecurity, the provincial authorities said.

However, WFP said its assessments indicated that "the reason behind their displacement is more related to land ownership issues than to distress caused by the drought".

Preventing "culture of displacement"

IDP representatives said the displaced families had not received any humanitarian assistance in the more than one month since they set up tents in the Cheshme Shifa area, in the outskirts of Mazar City.

The wretched living conditions of the IDPs did, however, attract communal sympathy and local donations, including cooked food portions from merchants and private foundations.

Balkh Province officials said government and ARCS humanitarian aid had not been offered to the Alburz IDPs because it could have prompted other vulnerable communities across the drought-affected province to seek assistance through displacement.

"We want to prevent a culture of displacement where people abandon their homes and livelihoods in search of free aid in urban areas," the ARCS's Khairkhwah said.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that there are over 130,000 IDPs in Afghanistan, mainly living in camp-like situations and in need of assistance and protection.

About one million people were displaced across the country immediately after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001 - mainly Pashtuns from northern areas.

Since 2002 the UNHCR has assisted over 489,000 IDPs to return to their home areas and some 450,000 others have gone back to their homes without external assistance.

Insecurity, land disputes, tribal rivalries, natural disasters and food-insecurity are the main factors which have led to the displacement of vulnerable communities, according to government officials and aid workers.

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