09 November 2004

(U.N. undersecretary-general says global attention on Afghanistan must not fade)

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

Nations -- Urging the international community to maintain a strong commitment to Afghanistan, a senior U.N. official said November 9 that the presidential election has shown that Afghans have embraced the democratic process and "the overwhelming majority" of Afghans are ready, "together with their political leaders," to hold local and parliamentary elections next year.

Meeting with the U.N. Security Council, Undersecretary-General Jean-Marie Guehenno said, "the international community may be tempted to diminish its attention on Afghanistan in the aftermath of the presidential election. If so, it should resist this temptation."

"While Afghans have shown a remarkable political maturity, they must still be able to count on full backing -- economic, financial, political, and military -- of the international community," he said.

Parliamentary and local elections are to be held no later than May 20, 2005.

After the meeting, the Security Council president, Ambassador John Danforth of the United States, said that the council members "reiterated their determination to continue to provide unwavering support to the government of Afghanistan in the fight against narcotics and the reinforcement of security" in preparation for the elections.

In a statement to the press, Danforth said council members "expressed hope that those elections be executed as peacefully and successfully as the presidential election."

Guehenno warned that the successful conduct of the recent presidential election may result in an unrealistic expectation that elections in Afghanistan are not difficult. "It would be a mistake, however, to become too complacent," he said.

Parliamentary elections will be much more complicated and fraught with security concerns than the presidential elections. Technical requirements will be complex as well, he said.

Guehenno outlined five issues that need to be resolved: district boundaries must be officially delineated; population figures must be agreed upon in order to assign parliamentary seats; voter lists must be analyzed and updated to prepare lists for each polling station; a complaints mechanism must be developed at the local level; and the qualifications of thousands of potential candidates must be vetted prior to their registration.

In the area of improving local security, the undersecretary-general said, the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program (DDR) should be accelerated.

Irregular militias, which are not included in the DDR program, are "rapidly emerging as a problem" and need to be tackled in advance of the next round of elections. They are "perhaps even more destabilizing for the security of many areas" of the country, he said.

The production and trafficking of illicit drugs pose "a growing threat to the state-building process and risk becoming a major impediment to holding credible parliamentary and local elections," Guehenno said.

The undersecretary-general said that one of the most successful aspects of the presidential elections was adequate security. That was achieved through a coordinated operation involving the national army and police working with NATO and coalition forces.

"This effort must be pursued and intensified ahead of the parliament and local elections," he said.