Armed escorts to accompany UN road missions in southwest Afghanistan

Responding to increasingly serious attacks on United Nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in southwestern Afghanistan, the UN mission announced today that road missions would only take place there with armed escorts provided by Afghan authorities at a level equal to security needs.

"These measures reflect our commitment to continue operations in all areas to the maximum extent possible," Manoel de Almeida e Silva, spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

"We at the UN continue in close contact with the NGOs and with the concerned Afghan authorities to review security conditions and to make the arrangements necessary to address problems as they arise," he added.

The move followed the suspension last week of mine clearance on parts of the road between Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar, one of the country's most important routes for commerce and relief aid, after two attacks on de-mining teams.

In one attack, gunmen killed the driver and wounded a passenger in a car belonging to a local de-mining agency. In the second, gunmen ambushed a UN-funded convoy of two trucks and an ambulance from a non-governmental landmine-clearance organization. When no internationals were found, they opened fire on the ambulance, wounding two of its three occupants.

"This is one of the most severe examples of violence against the programme in the last 13 years of operations," Dan Kelly, manager of the UN Mine Action Service programme in Afghanistan, said at the time. "And we feel we have no choice but to protect de-miners from future violent attacks by ceasing operations in areas that are not adequately patrolled and secured."