Tens of thousands of people have been driven from their homes by fighting in southern Afghanistan in recent months, the UN refugee agency has said. Between 80,000 and 90,000 people had been displaced by the conflict in the provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan, the UNHCR said. The figure brings the total displaced in the area to about 200,000, it said. Southern Afghanistan has seen fierce fighting between militants and Nato-led troops in recent months. The UNHCR said that it had distributed jerry cans, plastic sheeting, floor mats, lanterns, family kits and blankets to 3,200 families in Kandahar province, but that the fighting had added \"renewed hardship\" to a population already hard-hit by drought and earlier conflicts. \"We expect further displacement may take place until conditions are safe for the population to return to their homes,\" said Jennifer Pagonis, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Rahmatullah Safi of the Afghan Department of Refugees and Repatriation said some help had already reached those displaced, but more needed to be done. \"People have lost everything - their vineyards, orchards, schools and clinics,\" he said in a statement released by the UNHCR. There has been an upsurge in fighting between Nato-led and Afghan troops and the Taleban and their allies in southern Afghanistan following the alliance\'s expansion into the area at the end of July. (BBC)