Military

DATE=4/6/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-301831

TITLE=AFGHAN U-N / SECURITY (L-O)

BYLINE=AYAZ GUL

DATELINE=ISLAMABAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The United Nations has decided to lift travel restrictions on its staff in southern Afghanistan, after local authorities stepped up security in the violence-hit region. Ayaz Gul reports from neighboring Pakistan.

TEXT: The United Nations banned its staff from traveling to Kandahar province after unknown gunmen killed a staff member of the International Red Cross in the region late last month. A U-N spokesman, Manoel de Almeida (e Silva), in Kabul, says that the travel ban is being lifted because local authorities have put in place extra-security measures.

Mr. de Almeida says that several-hundred Afghan troops and policemen, along with some coalition forces, have been deployed in all the districts of Kandahar Province.

/// DE ALMEIDA ACT ///

They will also have mobile patrols in high-risk areas and are also setting up security checkpoints in those areas. These measures are to be put in place today. That being the case, the restriction on movement of (aid workers) will be lifted. But it is a situation that will require continued monitoring and we will have to progress with caution.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. de Almeida says that a new committee of aid workers and Afghan authorities will also meet weekly in Kandahar to discuss the security situation. He says the increased security measures in the southern Afghan province have been taken after consultations between the United Nations, aid agencies, and Afghan authorities.

Mr. de Almeida says the United Nations has consistently pointed out that Afghanistan is not yet a stable country, and has urged that the multinational peacekeeping force be expanded outside Kabul. About fiive-thousand foreign troops are deployed in the Afghan capital to bring and maintain security to the war-ravaged city.

/// DE ALMEIDA ACT ///

The security situation in Afghanistan is not stable. Security is not yet reached a level that one could consider stable. In the case of the south this has reached a point of great concern with the murder of the I-C-R-C staff member a few days ago.

/// END ACT ///

Southern Afghanistan has recently seen several violent attacks. They include the murder of a Red Cross worker (Ricardo Munguia) and an ambush on a U-S military convoy that killed two American servicemen. Last week gunmen in southern Uruzgan Province killed a close friend and political ally of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Remnants of the former Taleban regime, suspected al-Qaida members, and fighters loyal to renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are believed to be behind the violence. Thousands of American troops are hunting down these militants in Afghanistan. (SIGNED)

NEB/AG/RAE