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UN must double aid effort in Afghanistan: Annan
The United Nations must double the quantity of food being delivered to Afghanistan in order to rescue an increasingly desperate population, Secretary General Kofi Annan said in an interview published Monday.
The United Nations must double the quantity of food being delivered to Afghanistan in order to rescue an increasingly desperate population, Secretary General Kofi Annan said in an interview published Monday.
"We need to deliver between 50 and 60,000 tones of food a month. But so far we are only delivering half," Annan told the French daily Le Figaro. "The air war is obviously hampering our efforts," he added, referring to U.S.-led air strikes on Afghanistan.
Annan said, however, that supply bases were being set up in neighboring countries, mainly Uzbekistan, and he was hopeful that as a result the situation would improve.
The secretary general said the U.N. was readying to step in once the military campaign is over and called on the country's warring factions to put an end to over 20 years of bloodletting.
"We are working toward peace," he said, while also appealing to Afghanistan's neighbors not to meddle in any postwar government which he said should "be loyal only to the Afghan people."
Annan outlined three possible ways to maintain peace- deploy U.N. peacekeeping troops, send a multinational force "which could be exclusively Islamic or include both Muslim and non-Muslim troops" or, finally, seek what he described as "a national solution."
The latter would likely provide the most stability, he was quoted as saying by Le Figaro, involving a broad-based coalition in Kabul that would "establish a force that is totally Afghan and include all the existing militias."
The secretary general said an "outburst of anger in the Muslim world is a real danger" and warned against extending the military campaign to Iraq.
"To attack Iraq would be a mistake. The only result would be to heighten tension in the region," he said, adding "I believe the American government is very aware of those realities."
Annan dismissed accusations by Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, that democracy and human rights were merely tools of the West.
"Bin Laden's claim is an insult to the people of the developing world who he pretends to defend," he said, pointing to how people across the world respond similarly to torture and oppression.
"In Western countries as well in the developing world people cry out with the same anger, they shed the same tears."
Bureau Report
"We need to deliver between 50 and 60,000 tones of food a month. But so far we are only delivering half," Annan told the French daily Le Figaro. "The air war is obviously hampering our efforts," he added, referring to U.S.-led air strikes on Afghanistan.
Annan said, however, that supply bases were being set up in neighboring countries, mainly Uzbekistan, and he was hopeful that as a result the situation would improve.
The secretary general said the U.N. was readying to step in once the military campaign is over and called on the country's warring factions to put an end to over 20 years of bloodletting.
"We are working toward peace," he said, while also appealing to Afghanistan's neighbors not to meddle in any postwar government which he said should "be loyal only to the Afghan people."
Annan outlined three possible ways to maintain peace- deploy U.N. peacekeeping troops, send a multinational force "which could be exclusively Islamic or include both Muslim and non-Muslim troops" or, finally, seek what he described as "a national solution."
The latter would likely provide the most stability, he was quoted as saying by Le Figaro, involving a broad-based coalition in Kabul that would "establish a force that is totally Afghan and include all the existing militias."
The secretary general said an "outburst of anger in the Muslim world is a real danger" and warned against extending the military campaign to Iraq.
"To attack Iraq would be a mistake. The only result would be to heighten tension in the region," he said, adding "I believe the American government is very aware of those realities."
Annan dismissed accusations by Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, that democracy and human rights were merely tools of the West.
"Bin Laden's claim is an insult to the people of the developing world who he pretends to defend," he said, pointing to how people across the world respond similarly to torture and oppression.
"In Western countries as well in the developing world people cry out with the same anger, they shed the same tears."
Bureau Report