HERAT, Afghanistan, 14 September 2004 — The United Nations and several nongovernmental aid agencies withdrew staff from the troubled Afghan city of Herat yesterday after their offices were targeted in deadly rioting. More than 60 workers were relocated after demonstrators attacked aid offices on Sunday in protest at the sacking of longtime Governor Ismail Khan. Four people died and more than 50 were injured.
“All international and some national United Nations staff are being relocated to Kabul,” said one UN official who did not want to be named. “They are obviously relocated for security reasons.” He said 33 members of about 10 nongovernmental organizations were also evacuated, with 61 workers pulled out in total. The UN refugee agency has also suspended repatriations from nearby Iran.
United Nations staff fled to bunkers as about 500 demonstrators ransacked buildings used by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and three nongovernmental groups on Sunday. Gunfire rang out throughout the day and American and Afghan forces were on the streets, with US military helicopters flying low over the city. Calm returned yesterday after a televised appeal by Ismail and a government warning that any more violence would be met by military force.
The United Nations said two of its international staff had been slightly injured. Nick Downie, of the Afghanistan Non-Governmental Organization Security Office, said around 30 NGO staff had been relocated yesterday morning from Herat as a security precaution. The UN said around 40 of its international staff had been temporarily relocated, but 15 remained.
The European Union Special Representative for Afghanistan in a statement expressed dismay at the violent demonstrations and “wanton destruction” of property. The EU urged religious, tribal and community leaders to use their influence “to quell the acts of violence and ensure the safety of the citizens of Herat and all international personnel working in the region”.
Twenty-two suspected Taleban and Al-Qaeda militants, including three Arabs, were killed in a fierce gunbattle with US-led coalition forces, the US military said yesterday. “Twenty-two anti-coalition militias were killed. Three of them were Arabs,” military spokesman Maj. Scott Nelson told a reporters in Kabul.
Another three suspected militants, including an Arab whose nationality was not disclosed, were captured in the fighting which took place overnight. The fighting erupted late Sunday night after about 40 militants armed with AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and a global positioning system attacked US soldiers patrolling in Shinkay, a troubled district in southeastern Zabul province, some 340 kilometers southeast of Kabul, Nelson said.
