Tuesday 12 November 2002

Press Briefing Notes
Tuesday 12 November 2002
Spokesperson: Jean Philippe Chauzy

INDONESIA - IOM Returns Stranded Afghan Migrants
AFGHANISTAN - Winterization Assistance - Update on Return and Reintegration of IDPs
COTE D'IVOIRE - IOM Returns Sierra Leonean Refugees

INDONESIA - IOM Returns Stranded Afghan Migrants - This week, IOM is assisting two groups of stranded Afghan migrants return to their homeland. The migrants will fly from Jakarta to Kabul and will be accompanied by an IOM staff member.

A first IOM charter flight carrying 30 Afghan migrants will leave Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport later today for Dubai, from where the returnees will board an Ariana flight for Kabul.

Once in Kabul, IOM will give each returnee a one-time AUD 2,000 reintegration grant; families of five or more will receive an AUD 10,000-reintegration grant.

Twenty-nine of the returnees were cared for by IOM in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, and one in Situbondo, East Java.

Another group of 23 Afghans is scheduled to leave Jakarta for Kabul on Saturday. Sixteen of the returnees were living under IOM care in Jakarta, four in Situbondo, East Java, and three in Bogor, West Java.

IOM is still providing shelter, food and medical assistance to 681, mainly Afghans and Iraqis. in Mataram, Jakarta, Bogor and Situbondo.

For further information, please call Arista Idris, IOM Jakarta 00 62 21 3983 8529, mobile 00 62 811 914 728.

AFGHANISTAN - IOM to Provide Winterization Assistance - Working with the Afghan Interim Administration and the UN-coordinated Winter Preparedness Task Force, IOM is preparing to provide winter supplies to the most needy among the recently return Afghans and internally displaced families to help them get through winter.

IOM has now completed an inventory of winterization items currently in stock in its warehouses throughout Afghanistan. The items in stock include: almost 10,000 tons of coal and charcoal, 28,000 items of clothing, 42,000 pairs of boots, 34,000 blankets, more than 5,000 tents, 2,754 stoves, 2,338 family kits that contain blankets, clothing, plastic sheets, boot and socks, kitchen sets, soap and water cans.

As part of winter preparation efforts, 24 IOM trucks and drivers from Herat are under contract to WFP throughout December in order to help facilitate the pre- positioning of vital winter food stocks.

To provide winter assistance to an estimated 560,000 newly returned IDPs and refugees, considered to be the most vulnerable this winter, IOM requires US$1.3 million in donor support.

AFGHANISTAN - Update on the Return and Reintegration of IDPs - IOM continues to operate a fleet of 100 heavy duty trucks and 25 light vehicles in Kabul, Herat, Mazar, Kunduz and Maimana assisting internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their places of origin.

IOM conducts voluntary return registrations and is working with partner agencies in supplying and distributing reintegration packages to returnees. IOM also operates nine transit centers along major return routes. To date, some 300,000 IDP's have used these centres, which offer temporary shelter and accommodation.

In Western Afghanistan, movements have taken place from locations outside Herat, i.e. Rabat Sangi, Farah City, Turghundi, as well as from Maslakh and Shaidayee IDP camps.

IOM teams are deployed in the IDP camps at Maslakh and Shaidayee in Herat for the voluntary registration of people needing transport assistance home. Registrations have been particularly slow with the onset of winter.

However, smaller movements are scheduled for 236 persons who registered for return assistance from Maslakh IDP camp to Badghis and Faryab provinces.

In Northern Afghanistan, 12 movements took place in October, assisting 2,888 IDP's from Baghlan, Samangan and Balkh. In a month fraught with isolated security incidents, a planned movement from Mazar to Sholgara had to be cancelled due to fighting in the area.

Additionally, 3,284 families (13,630 persons) remain scheduled for return from Samangan, Mazar, Jawzjan, Kunduz and Khulm but these movements remain on hold until clearances are obtained for the respective return destinations.

In Central Afghanistan, in October IOM facilitated the return of 713 IDP's from Kabul and Ghazni.

IOM continues to coordinate with UNHCR and UNSECOORD to check and obtain security clearance for all return operations.

COTE D'IVOIRE - IOM Returns Sierra Leonean Refugees - On Friday, IOM assisted a group of 26 Sierra Leonean nationals who were stranded in shelters in Abidjan to return home to Freetown.

IOM accompanied the group to Abidjan airport, where they boarded a Ghana Airways commercial flight. On arrival, the returnees were met by UNHCR and by representatives of the Sierra Leonean government. All were given a 15,000 Leone (US$7.50) transportation grant.

They are part of a group of about 50 Sierra Leoneans who were made homeless by the razing of shantytowns in Abidjan, following the 19 September army uprising.

According to IOM's operation officer Serge Dale, "All were in a hurry to get back to Sierra Leone where many have relatives. But they all said they would return to work in Cote d'Ivoire once the situation has improved."

In Abidjan, IOM's Deux Plateaux transit centre is currently providing shelter to 143 mostly Liberian, Sierra Leonean, Togolese and Sudanese nationals made homeless by arson attacks. All fear reprisals from the local population.

The camp is normally used for processing refugees to be resettled in the United States. It was set up by IOM in June 2001 when the US Immigration and Naturalization Service stopped conducting resettlement interviews in Cote d'Ivoire's refugee camps. Since then, 4,901 refugees have passed through the facility.