DATE=7/20/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=AFGHAN/U-N (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-264627
BYLINE=AYAZ GUL
DATELINE=ISLAMABAD
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A senior U-N official says no progress has
been made in talks aimed at persuading Afghanistan's
ruling Taleban movement to lift a ban on Afghan women
working for international aid agencies. Ayaz Gul
reports from Islamabad.
TEXT: U-N co-ordinator for humanitarian assistance to
Afghanistan, Erick de Mul has returned to neighboring
Pakistan after holding the unsuccessful talks with
Taleban authorities in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Mr.
de Mul says it appears that certain members within the
Taleban are not happy with women working for aid
agencies in Afghanistan.
// DE MUL ACT//
We have not been able to make any progress
during the four-days I was there. Apparently
they need more time to discuss (the issue)
internally, and to see if they can reach some
kind of a decision. And, I hope that will
happen in the next coming days or a week so that
we can put it behind us because otherwise we
will have trouble.
// END ACT //
A Taleban edict issued last week by its Ministry for
Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice restricts women
from working on foreign relief projects in the war-
ravaged Afghanistan. The ban has halted work on a
planned World Food Program survey to identify who in
Kabul is most in need of bread from a subsidized W-F-P
bakery project that employs 600-women.
Mr. de Mul says the United Nations has given the
Taleban one-week to return to talks with its final
decision about whether women will be allowed to work.
Last week, the Taleban expelled a 71-year old American
aid worker, Mary MacMackin after accusing her of
spying for an un-named country. Ms. MacMakin denies
the charges and says she was expelled for employing
Afghan widows at her aid project.
The Taleban's strict policies towards women have drawn
strong condemnation from international human-rights
groups. The Islamic movement has banned girls from
receiving an education and women from working in the
90-percent of Afghanistan it controls. (SIGNED)
NEB/AG/RAE
20-Jul-2000 13:02 PM EDT (20-Jul-2000 1702 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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