KABUL, 28 April 2008 (IRIN) - Almost a month after the Afghan government launched a fresh effort to encourage the return of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the three largest IDP camps to their home provinces (mostly in the north), only about 130 families have opted to return, the Ministry of Refugees and Returnees Affairs (MoRRA) said.

At least 150,000 IDPs are currently living in Zherai, Mukhtar and Maslakh camps in Kandahar, Helmand and Herat provinces respectively, aid agencies and Afghan officials estimate.

In an effort to address the plight of the IDPs, in early April the MoRRA offered transport assistance and food aid to those wanting to return to their homes within two months.

"We had planned to return all displaced families living in these three camps to their original areas, and to do that we offered transport assistance and 3-6 months' food aid," Abdul Qadir Zazi, an adviser to the minister of refugees and returnees, told IRIN in Kabul.

"Thus far about 110 families in Maslakh, 15 in Zherai and 10 in Mukhtar have registered for return," he said.

The government's policy of encouraging the return of IDPs is backed by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), which said it would provide assistance to returning IDPs in terms of transport, tents and food aid for a limited period of time.

Obstacles to return

The joint plan by the government and UN to send IDPs back to their homes has been coldly received by IDPs who say the worsening security situation, ethnic tensions, local warlords, unemployment and poverty are inhibiting their return in the near future.

"Commanders and warlords in the north are still seizing people's land and forcing them to abandon their houses; so how can we return?" said Haji Gul Ahmed, a resident of Maslakh camp in Herat Province.

"There is no guarantee that commanders and gunmen [local militias] will not kill us and will not harm our females," said Abdul Manan, a representative of displaced families from the northern province of Faryab, in Zherai camp in Kandahar Province.

Others pointed to lost livelihoods in their home areas, poverty and drought as major obstacles to their return.

Over one million people were reportedly displaced - mostly due to conflict and inter-communal tensions - immediately after the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. Tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghan families were also displaced by severe drought, factional fighting and food insecurity during Taliban rule, 1996-2001.

Many "old" IDPs have returned to their homes in the past six years or so (some assisted by aid agencies), but insurgency-related violence and food insecurity have also displaced thousands more over the past few years, according to aid agencies.

No aid to those who remain in camps

The MoRRA and the UNHCR have given assurances that displaced families will not be forced to repatriate to their home areas; returns will be entirely voluntary.

"We do not encourage IDPs to return to areas that we believe are unsafe," said Nader Farhad, a UNHCR spokesman in Kabul.

However, the UNHCR will not resume its humanitarian relief operations for displaced people who are unwilling to leave the camps.

UN agencies officially halted their relief operations in Maslakh, Mukhtar and Zherai camps in March 2006.

"The UNHCR will start working with the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation on local integration as a durable solution," Farhad said.

No medical teams in Zherai camp

Non-governmental organisations and the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) suspended health services in Zherai camp after several health workers were kidnapped by Taliban insurgents in 2007.

"We will not send medical teams to Zherai camp unless locals provide adequate security guarantees," said Abdullah Fahim, a MoPH spokesman in Kabul, adding that the ministry did not want to put its staff at risk by forcing them to visit patients in Zherai.

Humanitarian relief and health services have been suspended for IDPs at a time when the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that conflict is "spreading" in Afghanistan and civilians are increasingly becoming displaced.

The ICRC has called on aid agencies and the government of Afghanistan to respond to the "growing humanitarian needs" of IDPs "as a matter of urgency".

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