Tajikistan won't accept Afghan refugees

The president of Tajikistan, Imomali Rakhmonov, has said his country will not admit some ten thousand Afghans who are stranded on its southern border.

The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, is appealing to the government to accept the Afghans, who have fled fighting between the Taleban and the opposition and are now stuck on river islands between the two countries.

But Mr Rakhmonov said no-one would be admitted because it was impossible to distinguish between those who were genuine refugees and the several hundred armed men who had also taken shelter on the islands.

Aid agencies say that as winter sets in, conditions on the islands are getting worse and the distribution of aid to the people is difficult because of sporadic shelling.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service