Yury Razgulayev: Humanitarian convoys make their way from Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan

The first caravans with humanitarian cargo from the Kyrgyzstan have already arrived to the Afghanistan city of Faizabad. Several more convoys are also on their way.

The trucks travel along the mountainous roads and they are accompanied by armed convoys from Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. It may seem strange that the peaceful columns are guarded that much. First of all, the convoys go through three places that are considered to be very dangerous due to Uzbek and Tajik gunmen. Secondly, there are not only religious fanatics and fundamentalists who are dangerous to the trucks carrying flour and clothes.

As it was informed, the local citizens of the town of Horog (in one of the regions of the Tajikistan republic) demanded that a part of the cargo be left for them. They claimed that they lived no better than the Afghan refugees, suffering from hunger and cold. A spokesman for the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations in Kyrgyzstan, Shamsutdin Dagirov, told journalists that it was possible to settle the conflict, and the convoys moved on. However, Dagirov acknowledged that the things the local citizens said were true.

Other convoys of humanitarian aid for Afghanistan will travel along that route every 12-13 days (the cargo is delivered within the framework of the UN World Food Program). The route starts in the republic of Kyrgyzstan, in the city of Osh, and the Afghan city of Faizabad is the point of destination. The operation to deliver this cargo is presumably organized by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Russia.

Yury Razgulayev PRAVDA.Ru Kyrgyzstan

Ap photo: Refugees fleeing the fighting in southern Aghanistan gather to wait for possible registration at the Killi Faizu camp Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2001