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CNN Live At Daybreak
America Strikes Back: UNHCR Races to Set Up Camps for Afghan Refugees in Pakistan
Aired October 29, 2001 - 11:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The latest on 2 million Afghan refugees said to have swarmed the border with Pakistan, making humanitarian relief there a primary concern.
To Quetta, Pakistan, and CNN's Carol Lin, right near the Afghan border.
Carol, hello to you.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, to you, in Atlanta, Bill.
Yes, we're about two hours away from the Shaman border crossing. That is the main crossing in southern Pakistan, where they are now seeing hundreds, if not thousands, of Afghan refugees massing on the other side of the border. We have just learned from the UNHCR, the primary agency hoping to care for these refugees that the number of Afghan refugees which has arrived at the one camp that they do have at this border crossing has doubled in the last 24 hours. And what that means is they are almost near capacity. At this rate, they could be completely full by the end of the day tomorrow.
What that means is they have to find more a permanent site for these refugees. Our question was what happened to the permanent camp sites that were supposed to be set up by now? What we discovered was that the process is being bogged down by ethnic tensions and a lot of government bureaucracy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): At the Charman border, under the menacing eye of the Taliban, Afghan refugees meet at a tension- filled crossroads of hope and despair -- despair for those who do not have visas to Pakistan, hope for those who do. They crossed into Pakistan Sunday with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
"We came here to get shelter," Miraweis told us. He says he doesn't have a penny to buy food. He is one of 150,000 refugees the UNHCR now predicts could cross into southwest Pakistan. But even if they arrive, they may not get the shelter they seek.
This is the only refugee camp they've been able to get approved at this busy border crossing, and it is temporary at best -- primitive latrines, simple tents. In a month when winter hits, aid workers want to move the refugees to a more permanent site.
(on camera): The problem is it is 40 minutes up this winding, bumpy road to a site that has no water, no facilities, nothing is set up.
(voice-over): This desolate plain is one of a handful of places Pakistan's government has only just approved for new refugees. Pakistan has been reluctant to expand existing camps or build new ones because it already cares for two million Afghan refugees and says it cannot handle more.
Even as aid workers keep negotiating with Pakistan, they stockpile tents and supplies for the flood of refugees they still expect. But they may not be able to help the vast majority of undocumented refugees, an estimated 50,000 in Quetta alone. Some would rather take their chances on the streets, some seek day labor, others beg, but here they say they feel safe.
These Shi'a refugees, ethnic minorities in Afghanistan, tell us they won't live in a camp with their historic enemy the Pashtuns. That new twist has put the UNHCR's commissioner in a tough position.
RUUD LUBBERS, HIGH COMMISSIONER, UNHCR: I don't think the solution is to start a sort of ethnic cleansing, having different camps for different sorts of people. It must be possible that people live in one refugee camp together.
LIN: So Ruud Lubbers toured part of Quetta's refugee community to get the word out. Come to the refugee camps, the UNHCR will guarantee your safety. But first he has to convince Pakistan's government to not deport the Afghans who come forward and also to allow aid workers to finish building the camps. If he does not succeed, it could be a crisis the United Nations did not predict, how to explain why $50 million in international aid did not help the people who need help the most.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
What we are hearing now is that the UNHCR is optimistic they will be able to finish final negotiations with the Pakistani government as well as with ethnic tribes who own the property.
Bill, I wanted to show you some of the aid that the refugees are receiving right as they arrive in Pakistan. These are those high energy biscuits that you've been hearing about. They're high in protein -- not much in flavor, I have to tell you. They're going to be getting a bag of wheat, some vegetable oil, some lentils -- enough probably to last them a couple of weeks to a month. But it's immediate nutritional needs that the UNHCR can at least meet as these refugees cross the border.
Back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: So critical. Absolutely.
Carol Lin, live in Quetta, Pakistan, with an update from there -- Carol, thanks.
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