- Title: AFGHANISTAN: AFGHAN REFUGEES MAKE THEIR WAY HOME FROM IRAN
- Date: 18th June 1994
- Summary: HERAT, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV GAZARGHA TRANSIT CAMP 0.12 2. SV WOMEN PUMPING WATER 0.17 3. SV WOMAN COLLECTING WATER 0.22 4. SV WOMAN WASHING CLOTHES 0.33 5. CU WATER FROM PUMP 0.40 6. SCU DISPLAY OF WEAPONS ON DEMINING BOARD 0.48 7. SV CHILD NEAR DEMINING SIGN 1.01 8. SV CHILDREN A
- Embargoed: 3rd July 1994 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HERAT, WESTERN AFGHANISTAN
- City:
- Country: Afghanistan
- Reuters ID: LVAATCW02NU3ZP2LY3HO2BUCA8LB
- Story Text: Tens of thousands of Afghan refugees are making their way home from neighbouring Iran after fleeing years of Russian occupation of Afghanistan.
But many are becoming trapped in a makeshift transit camp on the outskirts of the western city of Herat, unable to make the journey home to their old villages because the mountain passes have been blocked by bad weather, bandits, and the scars of recent fighting.
On the scorching, dusty plains of Herat, the city is faced with the problem of a people with nowhere to go.
The problem is compounded by the fact that Iran is making it increasingly difficult for the Afghan refugees to stay.
It recently tightened laws governing the access that foreigners have to employment, education, and social services.
"The authorities in Iran took our Identification Cards and ordered us to leave," said one Afghan refugee. "We had to go." The Gazargha transit camp on the outskirts of Herat is a scorchingly hot and dusty place where there is no running water, no electricity, and practically no sanitation facilities.
But the refugees who have crossed the border from Iran, hoping to return to their old villages, have no choice but to stay at the camp.
The problem is that the route over the mountains to the east of Herat is closed by bad weather for eight months of the year, and bandits make it very dangerous to cross at other times.
To the north a key bridge has been knocked out in recent fighting and to the south continued fighting makes that route impossible.
"The worst case scenario would be to have fifty or sixty thousand people stuck in Herat who would not be able to proceed to their locations," said Ahmed Gubartalla who works for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Afghanistan.
"Of course that creates a lot of pressures in the city and a lot of pressures on us, and that will also entail some extraordinary emergency implications as far as our transit facilities are concerned."
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