U.N. investigator calls for deploying U.N. staff inside Afghanistan to head off human rights catastrophe

By RANJAN ROY
Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS – U.N. international staff, who were pulled out after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, should be redeployed inside Afghanistan to be "seen to be standing by" Afghan civilians in their hour of crisis, a U.N. human rights investigator recommended.

In a report released Wednesday, Kamal Hossain called for a more visible U.N. role in protecting the Afghan people who he said have been pushed further into misery by the U.S.-led military strikes that began Oct. 7.

He also suggested that the United States and its allies, who are seeking to replace the harsh Islamic Taliban regime and capture Osama bin Laden, review the conduct of their military operations "so as to strictly comply with international humanitarian law."

"As the possibility of the existing regime losing control becomes imminent," he said, "certain critical steps need to be taken as a matter of utmost urgency to prevent a vacuum in which men, women and children could be exposed to the risk" of losing their property, lives and even being massacred.

Redeploying international staff, who were expelled by the Taliban or left as the dangers to their lives increased, could help protect Afghans' rights and speed emergency humanitarian assistance, he said.

"International United Nations staff should be redeployed inside Afghanistan immediately, albeit on a voluntary basis, so that they may be seen standing by the Afghan people in time of danger and to be interceding on their behalf," Hossain said.

He said local community leaders and "forces which are not tarnished by a negative track record" could be involved in U.N.-led programs to maintain internal security and prevent abuses such as summary executions.

"Internal security arrangements should be worked out to be established in areas over which the existing regime loses control in order to prevent massacres and protect the life and property of citizens," he said.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said that these ideas had been discussed within the world body, but at the moment there was no move to implement them. "This is all down the road. These are all ideas for the future," Eckhard said, stressing that the priority now was to get humanitarian aid to needy Afghans.

Hossain warned that in the past, bloodshed and massacres have often occurred when territories changed hands in Afghanistan.

He also stressed the need to involve Afghans in any future political arrangement if the Taliban regime is ousted by the military campaign provoked by the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, which Washington accuses bin Laden of masterminding.

"Community leaders and individuals who enjoy respect and confidence of people should have active and visible roles in the interim administrative arrangements," Hossain recommended.

Hossain's call came as U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in Rome to meet the former Afghan king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, and Italian diplomats to draw up a political strategy to oust the Taliban.

Brahimi, who was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to seek a political solution, has already met this week with Afghan leaders and politicians in Pakistan and Iran, which want a say in their neighbor Afghanistan's future.

APNP-11-07-01 1438CST