'Northern Returnees Need Aid', IRIN News, 29 October 2009

EXCERPT: "Several thousand people returning to their homes in the northern Afghan provinces of Sar-i-Pul and Jowzjan need help before winter, according to aid agencies and local officials. Aid agencies say most are returnees from Iran and from a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in southern Afghanistan. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said it had set up a tented camp in an arid area in Sozma Qala District, Sar-i-Pul Province, to accommodate hundreds of returnees from Iran. Some aid had been distributed to them, it said. About 300 families had returned to Jowzjan Province from Zhari IDP camp in Kandahar Province, provincial governor Mohammad Hashim Zaray told IRIN. Intensifying insurgency-related violence, the lack of aid and difficult living conditions forced over 2,000 IDP households in Zhari camp to sign up for a UNHCR-assisted voluntary return programme in 2009, according to relevant officials in Kandahar. As winter approaches, the need for decent shelter is becoming more important."

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See also:
'Press conference by Nila Mobarez, Press Officer and Aleem Siddique, Spokesperson, UNAMA Strategic Communication and Spokespersons Unit', ReliefWeb / UNAMA, 26 October 2009
'More than 50,000 returning Afghan refugees benefit from UN shelter programme', UN News Centre, 26 October 2009
'Afghanistan: Italy donates EUR 3.1 million for reintegration of returnees and IDPs', ReliefWeb / IOM, 16 October 2009

Related posts:
'The refugee problem: Looking toward Afghanistan's long-term stability', 12 December 2008
'276,000 Afghan refugees returned this year: UN', 3 November 2008
'Returnees bemoan government's "empty promises"', 14 August 2008
'Return with dignity, return to what?', 18 June 2008
'Afghanistan and Iraq drive up global refugee toll', 17 June 2008