Afghanistan traffic accident regrettable but no excuse for riots, UN envoy says

Expressing sympathy to the law-abiding people who were affected by last week’s rioting in Kabul, the United Nations envoy in Afghanistan today said the traffic accident which led to the unrest was no excuse for the looting and destruction which followed.

“Last week can only be described as a tragedy – for the family and friends of all those who lost their lives or were injured, those who had their homes, shops and offices looted and for the damage that these events have caused to the reputation of Afghanistan,” the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan, Tom Koenigs, told a Kabul news conference.

The riots were caused by an incident involving the apparent brake failure of a truck in a United States convoy and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) was awaiting the results of official investigations, he said.

“While we understand the distress and emotion of people caused by this road traffic accident, there can be no excuse for the subsequent wanton attacks and destruction caused to people who had nothing whatsoever to do with this unfortunate accident,” Mr. Koenigs said. “Those who looted shops, businesses and international agencies working for the progress of Afghanistan did not act on behalf of the vast majority of Afghans who are decent, law-abiding citizens.”

He said the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which he heads, was raising with the Afghan National Police the matter of its failure to contain the disturbances. UNAMA did not see the unrest as a rejection of the international presence in Afghanistan, but as the consequence of decades of war, he added.

Nonetheless, if the country was to move forward, mob violence had to be replaced by the rule of law, he said.

While he could not quantify how much damage the riots have done, a number of investors and businesspeople, both Afghan and international, have said that the problem in Afghanistan has been the insecurity, especially for small businesses.

“Afghans who have become rich in the United States and also for patriotic reasons want to invest here have told me that the security situation is key for their investment because, patriotic or not, nobody wants to lose his or her investment,” Mr. Koenigs said.