Military

DATE=12/05/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-283894

TITLE=GERMANY / AFGHAN DONORS (L-O)

BYLINE=JONATHAN BRAUDE

DATELINE=BERLIN

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Delegates from the United States and other countries are attending a U-N-led conference in Berlin to consider humanitarian and reconstruction support for Afghanistan. As Jonathan Braude reports, the mood at the conference will be buoyed by the progress Afghan factions meeting in Bonn have made in agreeing on a post-Taleban government.

TEXT: It is a coincidence, but the timing could hardly be better. Just as Afghanistan appears close to getting a new government, delegates from 15 nations, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and the European Union are meeting in Berlin for a two-day conference of the Afghanistan Support Group.

The group was first assembled in 1996, as the Taleban were consolidating their control of the country. With the Taleban defeated, it is likely the group will play a major role in co-ordinating aid and development initiatives to clear up the damage done by the years of war and Taleban rule in Afghanistan.

Official sources say delegates meeting in Berlin will focus on the humanitarian situation in the country, the plight of its millions of refugees, as well as the prospects for reconstruction. They will be meeting under the leadership of U-N Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Kenzo Oshima and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

Germany, which currently holds the presidency of the support group, had joined U-N officials in making it clear to Afghan delegates at the talks in Bonn that the scale of worldwide aid will depend on their progress in forming a new interim government.

Now that the factions meeting in Bonn have reached an accord on an interim government, there is hope that the Afghan factions will be able to work together to rebuild the country. That kind of cooperation could encourage the donors meeting in Berlin to be even more generous. (SIGNED)

NEB/JB/KL/RAE