0
PESHAWAR, April 18: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruud Lubbers said here on Thursday that the UN refugee agency is running short of funds to assist the ongoing repatriation programme of Afghan refugees.
The refugee agency, he said, was spending $20 million to $25 million every month on Afghan refugees being repatriated from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan.
“This is a bad news that we have no cash reserves,”, the 61- year-old former Dutch prime minister told newsmen during a visit to the voluntary repatriation centre at Takhta Baig, Khyber Agency, on Thursday.
The high commissioner arrived here on a two-day official visit from Jalalabad, Afghanistan via Torkham checkpoint and made a brief visit to the Takhta Baig registration centre.
Mr Lubbers said although the UNHCR was facing funds shortage, the good news was that donors had assured of providing more funds to continue the repatriation programme. Since March 1, he said, the UNHCR had repatriated some 2,600,000, most of them from Pakistan. He said the UN refugee agency had assured Pakistan that the repatriation process would continue to reduce burden on its resources. “We are like poor people and have no reserves, but one can see the number of people who returned to their country,” he maintained.
When asked about the security situation in Afghanistan, the high commissioner said: “It is not perfect, but it is improving.” He believed that the situation would improve, however, he added Pakhtoons living in the north faced problems. He hoped that the arrival of former king Mohammad Zahir Shah in Kabul would create the atmosphere of trust and confidence among Afghans. “I think that the situation in Afghanistan is heading to a right direction,” he observed.
About the issue of refugees who are sneaking back into Pakistan through unfrequented routes and re-appear at the repatriation centre for financial benefits, the high commissioner said they had to be very serious to check this practice. He said the UNHCR should be very strict about such activities and was trying to sort out solution of the problem.
MEETING:Mr Ruud Lubbers met Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja when they came across each other at the Nasir Bagh refugee camp.
The officials concerned informed the high commissioner and the foreign minister said that on the directives of NWFP government many refugee families had been shifted from Nasir Bagh camp to other camps, because of the Regi Lalma township scheme. Some 6,000 families were now living in the camp and the site would be shifted by the end of May.
