BRUSSELS, 28 May 2004 — The European Union’s executive branch yesterday accused US-led troops in Afghanistan of endangering the lives of aid workers as it unveiled a limited new aid package for the war-torn country. Announcing the donation of 35 million euros ($43 million), a European Commission spokesman said: “We would have liked to do more but the security situation in the country clearly remains an important constraint.”
The activity of relief workers is made dangerous by US-led coalition troops in southern Afghanistan dressing in civilian clothes and using the same vehicles as aid agencies, spokesman Jean-Charles Ellermann-Kingombe said. “In the south, in addition to the general level of insecurity, we have seen a new trend where humanitarian aid workers are being specifically targeted ... and increasingly being perceived by the local population as not being neutral.
“We believe that elements in the coalition forces, through their behavior, contribute to a situation where the distinction between humanitarian and military personnel is becoming blurred,” the spokesman said.
Ellermann-Kingombe contrasted their behavior with that of a separate, NATO-led peacekeeping force that is largely confined to the Afghan capital Kabul.
Members of the 6,500-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were always clearly identified as military personnel, the spokesman said. “This is a good practice that should also be applied in these other areas,” he said.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s long-awaited new electoral law was finally signed by President Hamid Karzai yesterday, paving the way for the country’s landmark democratic elections due in September.
The law, which guarantees a single vote to each citizen aged 18 or over, states that a president will win election “by a majority of the valid votes of voters cast in an election.”
“It is based on the simple majority, this is the best, easiest and simplest electoral law for a country like Afghanistan,” Justice Minister Abdul Rahim Karimi said at a press conference.
