UN opens new aid route

The UN hopes to ship thousands of tons of aid from Termez

The United Nations has sent its first barge carrying humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan into northern Afghanistan in a move that could open up a new corridor of supplies to hungry Afghan civilians.

The barge, carrying wheat, winter coats, blankets, boots and water containers, sailed from the Uzbek river port of Termez to the Afghan port of Hairaton - a distance of 18 kilometres.

Relief supplies are being stockpiled at the Afghan-Uzbek border

The UN had delayed the shipment for about a week because of security concerns.

International relief agencies say they are still assessing the situation elsewhere in the country and it is too early to say when large-scale relief efforts will resume.

But they hope to start regular shipments from Uzbekistan, if the barge that sailed across the Amu Darya river is able to deliver its 50 tons of supplies successfully.

"The river crossing is the first of what is hoped will become a major humanitarian corridor into northern Afghanistan, where there are an estimated three million hungry people", the UN said in a statement.

It's a very fluid situation. The front lines are unclear. We have to fully assess security before aid workers can go back

Peter Kessler, UNHCR

But as the barge approached Hairaton, it was still unclear whether the supplies could be moved towards the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where looting was reported earlier this week.

Aid officials also expressed hope that the security situation would improve so that a bridge linking Uzbekistan and Afghanistan could be re-opened.

It was closed four years ago when Taleban forces moved into the the area.

Aid convoys suspended

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the situation remains volatile. International aid groups say concerns over security under the advancing Northern Alliance are hampering their work.

The UN Children's Fund (Unicef) temporarily suspended aid convoys to Afghanistan on Wednesday after fears that two truck drivers may have been killed in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Carol Bellamy: "Time is running out"

They were part of a convoy of 10 trucks that drove into Afghanistan over the weekend and was reportedly seized by Northern Alliance forces.

Four other drivers and two Unicef staff members were still missing, spokesman Chulo Huyn told reporters in Islamabad.

"We are looking at a very fluid precarious and very fluid situation on the ground", he said.

His words were echoed by the United Nation's refugee agency, the UNHCR.

"You have triumphant soldiers and desperate fighters. The frontlines are unclear. We have to fully assess security before aid workers can go back," said its spokesman Peter Kessler.

Winter approaches

Foreign aid workers were pulled out of Afghanistan after the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington, as the likelihood of retaliatory action against Afghanistan grew.

Mr Kessler also voiced concern that aid work might get harder, not easier, because of the different factions within the Northern Alliance.

"It's vitally important for aid groups that there is one authority you can deal with."

And Unicef director Carol Bellamy warned that time was running out: "Nothing we've seen so far suggests that access will be straightforward, that the environment will be secure, or that survival will be easy to ensure.

"In Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of of people will be helplessly exposed to the elements this winter, no matter which authority sits in Kabul."