From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Tue Oct 10 2000 - 09:48:13 EDT
RUSSIA PREPARES AID FOR ANTICIPATED AFGHAN REFUGEE INFLUX
INTO TAJIKISTAN
Ministry for Emergency Situations official
Yurii Brazhnikov told Interfax on 7 October that his ministry
has already sent one plane-load of humanitarian aid to
Dushanbe in anticipation that the ongoing fighting in
northern Afghanistan will trigger an influx of refugees into
Tajikistan. Brazhnikov said that a maximum of 150,000 Afghans
will be allowed to enter Tajikistan. He did not say whether
that figure was arrived at in consultation with the Tajik
government. In related news, UN Special Envoy to Afghanistan
Francesc Vendrell met in Dushanbe on 6 October with Ahmed
Shah Massoud, who commands the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance
forces, ITAR-TASS reported. The two men agreed on the need
for a peaceful solution to the ongoing fighting in
Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Russian Security Council official Raisa Vdovichenko told a
conference on nuclear non-proliferation in Moscow on 6
October that Taliban envoys have sought to recruit at least
one Russian expert on nuclear weapons, Interfax reported. LF
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