Press Briefing by Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations

Given the extensive security planning for the Afghan elections, there was a reasonable expectation that they could be carried out with credibility, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said this afternoon.  Speaking to correspondents at Headquarters following his briefing to the Security Council, he said, “A perfect exercise?  Certainly not.  An honest and credible one?  Very likely so.”  It surely would not be like elections in a country where elections were routine, but the commitment of so many Afghans to the process was the best reassurance.

Asked to describe security arrangements, he said there were some 25,000 polling stations grouped into about 5,000 polling centres.  There would be security forces covering each of the centres but not necessarily present at each station, and the ballots would be collected in areas where there was reinforced security.  Afghans would provide the first layer of security, through the national army and police, and they would be backed up by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Operation Enduring Freedom.  Enduring Freedom had been reinforced by an additional battalion and also by logistics assets that would allow them to get quickly to any contingency.

Responding to a correspondent who noted that the Human Rights Watch had reported widespread coercion by warlords, irregularities in registration and a dearth of qualified monitors, Mr. Guehenno said that among the 10.5 million registered voters, it was very possible that there had been some multiple registrations but the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and Afghan authorities were making sure that no one would actually vote twice by marking thumbs with indelible ink.  The joint reports of the Independent Human Rights Commission and the UNAMA were quite transparent in noting the imperfect situation, but at the same time enough precautions had been taken so that Afghans would see the process as credible and honest.

In response to a question about outreach to isolated areas, he said there was a public information campaign meant to ensure that people were fully aware that they could express their choices safely through the secret ballot.  Such a widespread educational campaign was a daunting task, but it was helped by the fact that the population was very interested in the election process.

Some 125,000 Afghans had been recruited for the election, so it was an issue that integrally involved the population, he continued.  Of course, that did not guarantee that the whole population was fully aware of all aspects of the process, and it was true that in some regions the local media was in the hands of the local power-brokers.  But all the candidates were being given airtime in the national media.

Recruitment of election workers had not yet been finalized in the west and south of the country, he said.  In the south, the risks of disruption had been the highest, hence the preparation of mobile forces.  Pakistan had been discussing ways to coordinate the security presence on both sides of the border to mitigate those risks.

Responding to other questions, he said no armed tribal units were being employed to provide security for the elections.  As far as local police were concerned, they were not uniformly good or bad, and it must be accepted that they would not always be effective in every place.  But they were only one layer of security.  Recognizing the limited national capacity, the international community was providing other layers.  At the end of the day, however, it was the commitment of Afghans that would make the difference.

Finally, in response to a question about the prospects of expanding the peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Guehenno said he could not comment on Council drafts that were said to provide 6,000 troops, a figure that would fall far short of the Secretary-General’s recommendation.  What was important was to follow the logic of the Secretary-General’s report even if deployment was more gradual than recommended.  On the other hand, he stood behind the figures that he had presented to the Council.

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