The United Nations refugee agency has temporarily closed down three more of its offices in southern and south-eastern Afghanistan while it reviews security measures following the weekend killing of a staff member in the town of Ghazni.
Referring to the closure of the offices in Kandahar, Gardez and Jalalabad, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Kris Janowski, told a briefing in Geneva today: “Repatriation operations in these areas require staff presence on the ground. Road travel has been suspended in the meantime. Staff in these areas have been restricted to their offices or quarters.”
Bettina Goislard, a 29-year-old French national working for UNHCR was travelling in a clearly marked agency vehicle through the centre of Ghazni city when gunmen pulled up on a motorcycle, opened fire and killed her on Sunday.
UNHCR has also temporarily closed its voluntary repatriation centres in Peshawar and Quetta in neighbouring Pakistan to ensure that returnees do not arrive at agency offices inside Afghanistan that may not be open.
Ms. Goislard was the first UN staff member to be murdered in Afghanistan since UN operations resumed there after the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001. Since then, UNHCR has assisted in the return of 2.5 million refugees from Iran and Pakistan and some 500,000 internally displaced people.
UN News Centre: http://www.un.org/news
Please also see:
Security Council condemns murder of UN aid worker in Afghanistan;
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8919&Cr=afghanistan&Cr1=
UN refugee agency grounds road missions in Afghanistan after murder of staffer;
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8902&Cr=afghanistan&Cr1=
UN officials condemn deadly attack against refugee workers in Afghanistan;
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8900&Cr=Afghanistan&Cr1=
United Nations & Afghanistan;
http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel.asp?infocusID=16&Body=Afghanistan&Body1=
Referring to the closure of the offices in Kandahar, Gardez and Jalalabad, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Kris Janowski, told a briefing in Geneva today: “Repatriation operations in these areas require staff presence on the ground. Road travel has been suspended in the meantime. Staff in these areas have been restricted to their offices or quarters.”
Bettina Goislard, a 29-year-old French national working for UNHCR was travelling in a clearly marked agency vehicle through the centre of Ghazni city when gunmen pulled up on a motorcycle, opened fire and killed her on Sunday.
UNHCR has also temporarily closed its voluntary repatriation centres in Peshawar and Quetta in neighbouring Pakistan to ensure that returnees do not arrive at agency offices inside Afghanistan that may not be open.
Ms. Goislard was the first UN staff member to be murdered in Afghanistan since UN operations resumed there after the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001. Since then, UNHCR has assisted in the return of 2.5 million refugees from Iran and Pakistan and some 500,000 internally displaced people.
UN News Centre: http://www.un.org/news
Please also see:
Security Council condemns murder of UN aid worker in Afghanistan;
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8919&Cr=afghanistan&Cr1=
UN refugee agency grounds road missions in Afghanistan after murder of staffer;
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8902&Cr=afghanistan&Cr1=
UN officials condemn deadly attack against refugee workers in Afghanistan;
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=8900&Cr=Afghanistan&Cr1=
United Nations & Afghanistan;
http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel.asp?infocusID=16&Body=Afghanistan&Body1=