An Afghan woman and her four children who had been living in Tajikistan since 1992 were suddenly deported Wednesday to their home country, even though three of them had recently been accepted for resettlement in Canada, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond said today.

The United Nations refugee agency today hailed the decision of the Government of Turkmenistan to grant citizenship to over 10,000 Tajik refugees, most of whom who had fled civil war in their neighbouring Central Asian country between 1992 and 1997.