PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SPECIAL ENVOY FOR AFGHANISTAN
Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL'S SPECIAL ENVOY FOR AFGHANISTAN
19980714
The new flare-up of fighting in Afghanistan confirmed the worst fears of the United Nations, Lakhdar Brahimi, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, said at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had been warning since the year began that an arms build-up occurring on all sides of the conflict was an indication of very serious fighting on the horizon, he added.
Meeting with the press after he had briefed the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan, Mr. Brahimi said that the fighting was materializing now, and it was very worrying. The Security Council was working on a presidential statement on that situation through which the Council members would express their views about the various problems involved.
On the humanitarian side, he said correspondents were familiar with the problems that had been encountered in Afghanistan for quite some time. "You are also familiar with the complicated, patient negotiations that the humanitarian side of the United Nations has conducted with the Taliban, the agreement we have reached and -- I am sorry to say -- the difficulties we are experiencing after reaching that agreement", he said. In spite of that agreement, the situation on the ground in Afghanistan was not as it should be.
[In May, a 23-point Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the United Nations and Taliban representatives, which outlined codes of conduct on both the United Nations and local authorities. As a result, the United Nations lifted the suspension of its assistance programmes in place since March.]
Referring to rumours being heard in Kabul that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) might pull out because of the new dormitories, a correspondent asked what that would mean for the United Nations. Would the Organization stay; would the World Food Programme (WFP) collapse?
[The Taliban has instructed all NGOs operating in Kabul to relocate their staff housing to dormitories on the campus of a city polytechnic. Also, the Taliban has said that all NGOs which do not comply with that order will be forced to leave the country.]
The Special Envoy replied that he really did not know. The United Nations was extremely concerned and worried and had already informed the Taliban that their actions regarding the NGOs were unacceptable. None of the decisions taken by the Taliban lately concerning humanitarian work seemed to be the right one.
Mr. Brahimi said his personal view was that the agreement that had been reached was indispensable. Even if it contained weakness, it was necessary to
Afghan Briefing - 2 - 14 July 1998
talk to the Taliban and to seek a basis for humanitarian work to be carried out under acceptable conditions. If such conditions were not established, the United Nations would have to remind the Taliban that they had signed an agreement and they must implement it, or see the United Nations go elsewhere.
Since the agreement was signed, what were the other problems besides those concerning the dormitories? a correspondent asked. The Special Envoy said they included the closure of schools, new edicts that were issued every day, and restrictions imposed on women working in the United Nations system based on their religious affiliation.
To a question about which factors had prevented progress on the political side, Mr. Brahimi replied, "I think the illusion that military victory can be achieved and that the problem can be solved through military activity". That illusion had been preventing progress all along.
Did that apply as much to the United Front (formerly the Northern Alliance) as it did to the Taliban? the correspondent asked as a follow-up. For the moment, it applied to whoever thought they could win, the Special Envoy replied.
Another journalist asked whether outside military help had diminished in any way and if it was being received by all sides in the conflict. Mr. Brahimi said that the Secretary-General's report contained precise facts detailing the supply from outside of weapons to all the factions. The fact was that the war could not go on without support from outside, he added. The idea that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had left enough arms to enable fighting to continue for 50 years was nothing more than a legend. That was not possible.
Were there any problems with conflicting Taliban decisions coming from Kandahar and Kabul or were the Taliban more unified in their obstructionism? a correspondent asked. Mr. Brahimi said he did not wish to comment on that. The Taliban were an organization that handed out edicts that prevented United Nations personnel from doing their job.
A correspondent asked whether the United Nations was at the point of giving the Taliban one last chance as far as the humanitarian side was concerned. Mr. Brahimi replied that the Deputy Secretary-General was calling a meeting on Friday to address that situation. He did not know what would be done.
He said that the Taliban must know that not only was there a limit to what the United Nations could stand, but that there were growing pressures on the Organization, particularly from the donor community, to state that limit.
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