IOM, working with partner agencies and local authorities, yesterday
began a distribution of non-food relief items in Kandahar to 1,179
conflict-displaced families from Zabul province.

The relief items, which include cooking sets, kitchen utensils,
jerry cans and blankets, are part of an ongoing IOM Rapid Response
Humanitarian Assistance Programme funded by the US Agency for
International Development's Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance
(OFDA.)

"The distribution is only a stop gap solution. We need to know
more about these people's needs to provide long-term
assistance.  This might eventually include helping them to
return to their home districts, if they wish to, and helping them
with reintegration and new livelihoods," says IOM's Abdusattor
Esoev.

IOM's emergency response programme provides humanitarian
assistance to the most vulnerable people in Afghanistan, including
IDPs, returnees and stranded migrants.

In Afghanistan IOM facilitates long-term return and
reintegration to and within the country, stabilizes migrant
communities for sustainable development in the context of long
periods of mass population displacement, and strengthens the
capacity of Afghan government institutions to manage migration.

For further information, please contact:

Abdusattor Esoev

IOM Kandahar

Tel. +93 (0) 794 500 612

E-mail: "mailto:aesoev@iom.int">aesoev@iom.int

Simona Palenga

IOM Kabul

Tel. + 93 (0) 707 369 219

E-mail: "mailto:spalenga@iom.int">spalenga@iom.int

Ahmad Shah Haied

IOM Kabul

Tel. +93 (0) 700 185 960

E-mail: "mailto:ahaied@iom.int">ahaied@iom.int