Military

8 April 2004 – Reinforcements from Kabul will join a contingent of Afghan army troops deployed in the northwestern town of Maimana after reports of sporadic gunfire there today, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

A spokesman for UNAMA said the gunfire, which continued from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, has since stopped and there have been no further incidents in Maimana, which is in Faryab province.

Manoel de Almeida e Silva said a contingent of 60 troops from the Afghan National Army sent to Maimana would be joined by reinforcements from Kabul "in the coming hours." UNAMA has also asked its staff based in the town to restrict their movements "to the essential minimum."

During a press briefing, he said the situation in Faryab highlighted the importance of disarming and demobilizing the country's armed factions.

"We saw this in Mazar [-i-Sharif] last year, in a very dramatic manner in Herat a few weeks ago, and we are seeing it in a less dramatic fashion but nevertheless one of concern here in Faryab."

In a separate development, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has approved the appointment of Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian with a long record in international criminal law and human rights, as the UN's Independent Expert on human rights in Afghanistan.

Mr. Bassiouni's role will be to develop a series of initiatives to ensure that human rights are fully respected and protected in Afghanistan, and that the rule of law is upheld. He also has the task of seeking and reporting information about the treatment of human rights in the country as it recovers from decades of war, misrule and instability.

Mr. Bassiouni will work closely with Afghanistan's Transitional Authority, its independent Human Rights Commission, as well as UNAMA and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

In a statement released yesterday, the Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertrand Ramcharan, welcomed the appointment, saying Mr. Bassiouni "will make an important contribution to the cause of human rights in Afghanistan."