Reuters
November 11
zbekistan is cautiously ready to open a key river supply route for humanitarian
aid into northern Afghanistan, but for the time being its border remains firmly closed.
U.N. representative Richard Conroy told reporters in the sleepy border town of Termez Sunday that the first aid delivery into Afghanistan would happen ``as soon as possible, and hopefully by Wednesday we can do the first trial run.''
U.N. aid organizations have been stockpiling supplies in Termez since the Uzbek government said last month it would allow the United Nations to use the port there to move aid to Afghanistan by barge for the first time since 1998.
And the capture of the strategic northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif by anti-Taliban forces Friday raised hopes that the Uzbek authorities may open the border bridge as well, allowing military and much-needed humanitarian aid to flow across the border as winter looms.
Aid organizations said Sunday they expected convoys of trucks to trundle over the border into Afghanistan within days with food, tents and other essentials.
But Uzbek officials remain tight-lipped on the matter, having stressed in the past that for security reasons the bridge would not be opened, even for aid deliveries.
``Certainly if there was a route open from Uzbekistan there would be lots of opportunities for humanitarian organizations to help people inside Afghanistan,'' said Yusuf Hassan, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
``We have been stockpiling things in Termez. We have a warehouse and we have been preparing for the past few weeks -- tents, blankets,'' he said in Islamabad.
KEY HARBOUR
``This (Termez) facility is a very good one. This is going to be the key harbor for the supply of humanitarian assistance into Afghanistan in the future,'' Conroy said.
Uzbek Emergencies Minister Ravshan Khaidarov, also in Termez to inspect the facilities, said everything was ready to begin deliveries, but he stressed that security remained paramount.
``As soon as we get guarantees that the necessary security measures have been taken on the other side for the people who will be carrying out the deliveries, we will start loading the barge and moving it over,'' he said, adding that this was likely to be in two to three days.
The Friendship Bridge across the Amu Darya river -- the Oxus of antiquity -- has been closed by Uzbekistan since 1998 when the Taliban overran Mazar-i-Sharif and its ancient plains.
Ex-Soviet Uzbekistan was deeply suspicious of the Taliban, accusing them of trying to export their militant brand of Sunni Islam across the river and keeping the border firmly sealed.
The return of the Northern Alliance, with a more liberal brand of Islam that lifts Taliban bans on music, dance and education for girls, may alleviate Uzbek fears that contact with Afghanistan would fuel a domestic Islamic insurgency.
Northern Alliance forces immediately invited back foreign aid organizations. They had tried to continue operations with local staff after rising tensions after the September 11 attacks on the United States -- blamed on the Taliban's ally Osama bin Laden -- forced the evacuation of foreigners.
Conroy said foreign aid workers would not be going over with the first convoy, but would keep monitoring the situation.