Afghanistan: UN mission raps attack on aid workers and government response
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) today condemned an attack earlier this week against a local office of a non-governmental organization (NGO) that left 10 staff wounded and also criticized provincial authorities for not doing more to protect aid workers.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) today condemned an attack earlier this week against a local office of a non-governmental organization (NGO) that left 10 staff wounded and also criticized provincial authorities for not doing more to protect aid workers.
UNAMA spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva told reporters in Kabul that the Afghan Government should speak out more clearly and loudly against any form of physical attacks on the relief community.
On Tuesday morning several hundred demonstrators marched to the offices of FOCUS, an NGO, in the town of Faizabad in Badakhshan province in Afghanistan's north. Then they turned violent, setting fire to computers and a generator, and stoning any NGO vehicles that passed by.
Mr. de Almeida e Silva said a senior police officer who tried to intervene was beaten up and 10 staff from various NGOs were wounded, none seriously, before the army quelled the demonstration.
NGOs have now withdrawn their international staff from Faizabad, operating only with their Afghan personnel. UNAMA has sent a team of officials to the town to study what happened.
Deploring the attack, UNAMA said initial results indicated that authorities in Badakhshan have failed to provide security to the NGOs operating there or to the general population.
Mr. de Almeida e Silva also said the Mission was also extremely concerned by a media interview with Afghanistan's Planning Minister Ramazan Bachardoust, who is reported to have strongly criticized the work of NGOs in his country. The UN is now contacting Mr. Bachardoust to clarify his comments.
"Justification of violence in general, and against NGOs in particular, is unacceptable," Mr. de Almeida e Silva said. "The Government has a paramount duty to uphold law and order and it cannot be involved in legitimizing or condoning physical aggression in any way. Casting blame on NGOs in general is wrong and disingenuous."
The Mission has urged Kabul to adopt prepared legislation "without any further delay" that would regulate the work of NGOs and ensure their role is not mixed with that of commercial organizations.