18.08.2002 - Source: BBC News

Attacks on the Afghan Government [ID 403]

Afghan murder probe draws blank

"Attacks on the Afghan Government
July: Apparent plot to blow up ministers uncovered
July: Haji Abdul Qadir, vice-president and minister of public works, shot and killed
April: Four civilians die in bomb attack aimed at Defence Minister Mohammad Fahim
February: Civil Aviation Minister Abdul Rahman killed in controversial circumstances"

Document(s): Open document

30.07.2002 - Source: International Crisis Group

ICG: 1,051 representatives elected in a process marred by intimidation ("Afghanistan Briefing Paper: The Afghan Transitional Administration: Prospects and Perils") [#8257],  [ID 404]

"After a gruelling, hurried two-months of local elections, 1,051 representatives were elected in a process that was, by all accounts, marred by intimidation. Many candidates were threatened, coerced into voting for certain people, and barred from the process altogether by local power-brokers. A few candidates were even killed in Ghor province. However, the process still produced diverse candidates prepared to represent the views of many, if not all, constituencies. An additional 450 representatives were selected by refugee groups, universities, and other civil society bodies, and approved by the Loya Jirga Commission. At the last minute, an additional delegates were added under pressure from powerful regional and government figures. Their exact number was not available, but estimates and vote counts put it at a further 100, bringing the overall total to approximately 1,600."

Document(s): Open document

11.07.2002 - Source: UN Security Council

UN Secretary-General: Several incidents of intimidation ("The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security [A/56/1000–S/2002/737]") [#49253],  [ID 405]

"31. There were several incidents of intimidation during the Loya Jirga itself, some involving the National Directorate for Security, and further incidents in the aftermath of the consultation. My Special Representative consistently addressed these cases, including through his strong representations to Governors, commanders and the highest authorities of the Interim Administration, urging them to cooperate with the Special Independent Commission and to take firm steps to protect the integrity of the Loya Jirga and its delegates. The Interim Administration considered that, in the fragile context of a country emerging from decades of conflict, and where military operations are in fact ongoing, engaging the various factions politically was a necessity."

Document(s): Open document

06.06.2002 - Source: Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch: Election process by local commanders through the use of threats, beatings, imprisonment, and other tactics of intimidation ("Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper: Afghanistan: Return of the Warlords") [#7373],  [ID 406]

"A mission by Human Rights Watch to southern Afghanistan in late May 2002 uncovered credible evidence of the reemergence of figures associated with the Taliban as well as the extremist Islamist movement led by former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in several southern provinces. […]
Nevertheless, in every province of southern Afghanistan, we received at least some reports of local commanders corrupting the election process through the use of threats, beatings, imprisonment, and other tactics of intimidation. […]

Positive examples

Notwithstanding the widespread breakdown in the loya jirga process witnessed by Human Rights Watch, we also came across many areas where the Afghan people managed to assert their will and select their delegates - an important first step on the road to reconstruction. One particular, if simple, episode exemplified the promise of the loya jirga process. Oruzgan province, in south central Afghanistan, is widely viewed as one of the least stable areas in Afghanistan. (It is believed by many Afghans and international staff in the south that the Taliban leader Mullah Omar at times hid somewhere in the region.) In the Dirawood area of Oruzgan, locals used the support provided by outside observers to prevent a local armed commander from taking over the loya jirga elections. According to one of the members of a loya jirga commission observers team, "A commander tried to take part in the process, I do not remember his name, but the people said: `His hand is up to the elbows in blood,' and so he was not allowed."
There were many instances of successful selections like Dirawood. But overall, Human Rights Watch saw that warlords in southern Afghanistan had successfully inserted themselves in the process."

Document(s): Open document

06.06.2002 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

IWPR: Delegates facing intimidation in Herat ("Loya Jirga Delegates Facing Intimidation") [#28930],  [ID 407]

"Several local candidates have been arrested in Herat, including Mohammad Rafiq Shaeed, chair of Herat's business council, and Mullah Mohammad Malik Khan Alizai, a religious leader in the provincial border town of Toreghundai.

Challenged to justify the arrests, Ziauddin Mahmoodi, the province's security chief, rejected criticism as "rumours from our enemies and al-Qaida. They only want to disgrace us. We have jailed only those who create problems and help terrorism".

But the United Nations has condemned the intimidation that has resulted in at least six Herat delegates resigning their grand assembly places within days of their election. The Loya Jirga Commission, supervising the voting, has been forced to repeat, or invalidate, several first-stage elections in districts where vote-rigging or intimidation was suspected.

The region's ethnic Pashtun minority has accused the commission of bowing to Khan, by refusing to increase the number of jirga representatives in districts where their community is large enough to win seats that they could not hope to secure elsewhere in Herat. [...]

Pashtuns boycotted some phase-one elections after disputing the allocation of seats between the ethnic communities. In the district of Gulran, Pashtuns were allocated three of the 19 local seats for the second phase, though they say they make up 50 per cent of the area's population. [...]"

Document(s): Open document