Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) has registered more than 45,000 new internally displaced persons (IDPs) over the past four days at 12 new registration points in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, the organization announced 7 May. It is setting up new camps in Mardan and Swabi districts, south of the conflict area in the Swat valley, to house people fleeing a surge in the fighting between govenment forces and Taliban militants. Up to 500,000 civilians may be affected by the conflict.
High Commissioner Antonio Guterres says he is deeply concerned about the fate of 20,000 Afghan refugees affected by the conflict in the Buner, Upper and Lower Dir districts. “We have reports that many have fled together with the local population. Some have chosen to return to Afghanistan with UNHCR assistance and others have chosen to relocate to existing refugee sites in Pakistan.”
The UNHCR has registered over 550,000 IDPs in Pakistan since August 2008. Some 93,000 people are living in camps administered by the international community.
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 7 May 2009.
Filed under: International organizations
Tags: Afghanistan, conflict, IDPs, International organizations, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan, refugees, Swat Valley, UNHCR
May 12th, 2009 at 10:14 am
[...] Log-in International organizations :: UNHCR: Appeal for assistance to Northwest Frontier Province, Pakistan Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres 11 May announced that his organization is chartering a Boeing 747 to transport emergency items to Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, at a cost of $584,000. Much more will be needed, he noted in an appeal to the international community for financial assistance and solidarity to help hundreds of thousands of Pakistani civilians displaced by recent heavy fighting in the region. [...]