UNAMA strongly condemns the episodes of violence in Jalalabad yesterday, in which a number of civilians have been killed or injured, and deplores the brutal attacks perpetrated against the premises of UNAMA, other UN agencies, as well as governmental, non-governmental and private organizations.

These attacks will in no way deter the commitment of UN agencies to assist the government and the people of Afghanistan in rebuilding their country. Neither will they interrupt the ongoing preparations of parliamentary and provincial council elections.

UNAMA commends the Afghan national security forces, which have demonstrated courage and professionalism in defusing violence. UNAMA also calls on local authorities and international military forces to do everything in their power to reduce tensions, allow for a swift and complete restoration of law and order, and prevent further episodes of violence in Jalalabad and elsewhere in the country.

•  Bomb blast victim Tint Swe, dedicated to changing lives of others

Last Saturday's devastating bomb blast inside the Internet Café across from Shar-e Naw Park abruptly took the life of United Nations employee Tint Swe. We not only lost a colleague, but for many of us also a friend.

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), UNAMA and the wider UN family in Afghanistan would like to express their deepest sympathies and convey their condolences to the family of Mr. Swe.

Tint Swe was held in the highest esteem by his colleagues not only for his skills as an engineer, but also his kindness, friendship and availability. His courage to work in the most remote areas of Afghanistan , in order to bring hope and a brighter future to the Afghan people, is a testament to his dedication to changing the lives of others.

Tint Swe was a Road Engineer based in Kandahar . On Saturday, he was in Kabul on a stopover awaiting to board a scheduled flight the very next day to take a three-week break in order to move his family to Canada . His daughter is scheduled to start her Masters in Medical Studies at the University of Toronto .

Mr. Swe, a citizen of Myanmar , is survived by his wife, Marlar Than, and his daughter, Thet Chit Su. His remains were transported yesterday back to his home country.

In a statement issued by the Secretary-General last Sunday, Kofi Annan condemned the attack which killed three and injured at least six Afghan nationals. The Secretary-General also expressed his concern about the increase in violence in the last weeks, and “called upon the Government of Afghanistan, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan , and the Coalition Forces to take the necessary measures to address the security situation”. At this time the attack is being investigated.

•  Flood Update

Heavy rain on Sunday led to flooding in Jawzjan province. The worst affected area was the village of Kokal Dash in Faizabad district, where an estimated 1000 families left their homes for surrounding villages and nearby higher ground. A UNAMA assessment team visited the area on May 9 th . There have been no reported casualties. Although the river burst its banks, the water level rose slowly giving the villagers time to evacuate.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UNAMA delivered non-food items - 249 family tents, 800 blankets, 40,000 water purification tablets and family kits - to the affected areas on Tuesday. Yesterday, a World Food Programme (WFP) truck with 44.7 Metric Tons (MT) of food for 800 families left for the affected area.

Further assistance has been provided by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), Non Governmental Organization (NGO) Save the Children UK (SCUK), and the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), which have sent a total of 600 tents and other non-food items for distribution. Initially, the delivery of assistance was hampered by flooding and the fact that affected persons were not in one place but spread out. However local authorities and international agencies have cooperated and aid is getting through. A SCUK medical team, with support staff from the MRRD and UNAMA, arrived in the affected area on Tuesday as a precautionary measure, and the Ministry of Public Health has now set up a health post in the area. A temporary school has been initiated by UNICEF and SCUK.

UNAMA received reports that there have been flash floods on Tuesday in the Sholgara district of Balkh province. An assessment mission made up of the MRRD, the Ministry of Power and Water, and ARCS was deployed to the area yesterday and will report back today.

Meanwhile, in response to last week's flooding in Farah, the WFP continues to distribute some 32 MT of food for 1,000 families across the province, and will deliver 15-days worth of food for 80 families to the Purchaman district tomorrow. UNICEF has already provided water purification tablets for nearly 400,000 litres of water and 2,000 sachets of oral re-hydration salts for families in this district.

In Kohistan district of Faryab province, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has begun delivery of food and non-food items for beneficiaries in 10 areas affected by floods over the last few days.

Response to the recent floods continues throughout the country. UNICEF, supported by government and NGO partners, has made available non-food items to flood victims in the Jawand district of Badghis province. Meanwhile, WFP is moving 30 MT of food to three villages - Tagab-Alam, Lalaby and Dozakhdara – in Jawand district today.

WFP have also pre-positioned 32 MT of food commodities in Doliana district of Ghor province, and dispatched 18 MT of food to flood affected people in this area. In addition to this, they have pre-positioned food assistance in the provinces of Paktia, Paktika, Khost, Bamyan, Kunduz, and Baghlan. Distribution of 1,123MT of WFP assistance is ongoing to flood affected people in Balkh province.

•  DDR process inching towards another milestone: over 52,000 now disarmed

To date, 52,856 former Afghan Military Forces (AMF) officers and soldiers have been disarmed under the Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme. From that figure 45,410 have entered the reintegration phase.

In terms of medium and light weapons collected, a total of 31,684 have been gathered from military units which have gone through the DDR programme.

As of today the heavy weapons count stands at 8,960. Remember these are working or repairable heavy weapons which have been secured in guarded compounds throughout the country.

This past Monday (May 9 th ) a decommissioning ceremony took place at 10 th Division Headquarters in Kabul to begin the DDR process of all units under the control of the Central Corps. The ceremony was attended by officials of Afghanistan 's New Beginnings Programme (ANBP), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Ministry of Defence (MoD), ISAF, and more than one thousand AMF soldiers and officers.

•  Election Update

Approximately 1,000 candidates have now registered for nomination for the upcoming elections.

For the Wolesi Jirga there are around 700 candidates, 91 of which are women, and for the Provincial Council there are almost 300 candidates - a total of 7 of which are women. There are also 14 Kuchi candidates.

Women make up some 20% of candidates, mainly in the Wolesi Jirga. The Commissioners plan to travel throughout the country to promote the candidate nomination process. They will also promote female participation in the elections, in particular encouraging women to register for the provincial councils.

•  The Asia Foundation funding training for political party representatives

The Asia Foundation is also doing its part in helping those who wish to receive more training for the upcoming September 18 th elections. They are funding training for some 60 high-level political party representatives.

The training will be conducted by Sayara Media and Communication and will focus on developing the role of the public information and media spokesperson in political parties. It will also address familiarizing parties with standards and practices of the media profession. Creating effective media strategies in both the run-up to the elections, as well as for longer-term party building strategies, will also be covered.

Thirty political parties will be invited to send two representatives each. The training, which will run from May 16 th right on through to July 6 th , will take place at the Elections Training and Information Centre in Kabul .

•  Bamyan hosts prison guard training

A two-day training workshop for prison personnel concluded yesterday in Bamyan.

The workshop, which was jointly organized by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and UNAMA, was attended by more than 30 prison and police detention personnel from the provinces of Bamyan, Ghazni, Ghor and Wardak.

Speakers included the Head of the Bamyan Provincial prison, as well as representatives of the AIHRC and UNAMA. The subject areas ranged from national and international legal provisions and standards governing detention, to the code of conduct and rights of prison staff. Human Rights for persons in detention, rules for the treatment of prisoners, and rules governing special categories of prisoners, such as juveniles, women, and the mentally ill, were also addressed.

The aim of the workshop was to increase the level of skills and professionalism amongst prison and police detention staff, by teaching them about the main standards governing detention in Afghanistan .

•  UNDP to hand over new building to Attorney General's office

This Saturday, May 14 th , the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will be handing over a new building to the Attorney General's Office. The building, which was built with the support of the UNDP's Justice Programme, will host the institution's Departments for Monitoring and Counter-Narcotics.

UNDP is supporting the Attorney General's Office and the other justice institutions of Afghanistan , not only with infrastructure and equipment, but also capacity development initiatives and technical advice. This is being implemented through a project entitled “Rebuilding the Justice Sector in Afghanistan”, which aims to rebuild and strengthen Afghan Justice institutions, develop Afghan law faculties and enhance the overall access to justice in the country.

The ceremony, which starts at 3 pm , will be held at the Attorney General's Office, located in Charahi Masjed Hanzalah, Qalah-e Fatullah. There will be brief speeches, after which the ceremonial ribbon will be cut, and guests invited to visit the building.

The project's major donors are Italy , Canada , and the UK .

All media are invited to attend the event, which will be followed by a press briefing as well as a reception. The Attorney General, Abdul Mahmood Daqeeq , and other dignitaries will be available to answer questions.

•  Indian mime artist to perform for school children

The World Food Programme, along with the Ministry of Education and the Embassy of India invite the media to attend a special ceremony next week - a famous Indian mime master and an Afghan children circus group.

This event is to mark the arrival of the Government of India's donation of 25,000 Metric Tons of food for 1.2 million Afghan primary school children.

The event is being held on Monday May 16 th at 9:30am at Ashoqan and Arefan High School .

•  Richard Provencher, UNAMA Public Information Officer to take over next four briefings

I will be absent on leave for the next four briefings. During my absence, our Public Information Officer, Richard Provencher, will take over the briefings and be the Officer-in-Charge.

We also intend to change things slightly by having prominent guest speakers deliver specific themes during those four briefings. Richard will continue to give you updates on floods, DDR, etc.

We will inform you of our special guests through a media advisory a few days ahead of the briefings.

Questions & Answers

Question: can you give us further details on the demonstration in Jalalabad?

Senior Public Information Officer: In terms of UNAMA, the demonstrators tried to enter the UNAMA building in Jalalabad by setting fire to the guardhouse. They did not manage to gain access. UNAMA personnel were moved from the building and sent home. UNICEF was also attacked. They burnt two cars and managed to get into the building [although the situation was quickly resolved]. Staff was sent home. The UNHCR guesthouse was burnt down. This prompted a temporary relocation of our staff. Given the deterioration of the security situation, it was decided that some of our staff would be moved to Kabul . A number arrived in Kabul yesterday, and more staff will be temporarily relocated today. That said we are not closing down. Our national staff remains in Jalalabad and are going to carry on activities. The relocated staff will be sent back to Jalalabad as soon as possible.

Question: Are there currently any activities [by the UN] underway in Jalalabad?

Senior Public Information Officer: I think right now it would be difficult to have activities in this area. As I said, we are relocating staff back to Kabul . As a precautionary measure we have ‘ White City ' for UN staff, which means no movement for national or international staff in the city.

Question: Has the UN suspended its activities in Kandahar also?

Senior Public Information Officer: You cannot say it is a suspension. As a precautionary measure, in Kandahar and Gardez we have what we call ‘White City' which means we ask staff, whether national or international, to stay at home and avoid movement unless extremely necessary.

Question: In Kandahar , are they going to return on Sunday or are you waiting for the situation to calm down?

Senior Public Information Officer: As soon as possible. First they will make an assessment of the situation. And then they will go back there as soon as possible.

Question: This demonstration which happened in Jalalabad and the other cities, can it prevent the process of the nomination of candidates for the upcoming elections?

Senior Public Information Officer: You would have to ask the JEMB about this. However, it is a bit too early to say that 24 hours after the uprising in Jalalabad, mostly, is preventing or hampering the whole process of the nomination of candidates. But I am pretty confident that if there was anything that was to hamper the candidate registration process, I am sure the JEMB would take the right measures.

Question: Women are not coming forward to nominate themselves as candidates for the upcoming election. What is UNAMA doing to promote women's candidacy?

Senior Public Information Officer: The role UNAMA is to promote awareness and to make sure that women know they should run, that they have a constitutional provision that guarantees them a number of seats and that they not only have a right, but a duty to participate in the political life of their country.

Question: The problem is that the women claim they could not collect enough signatures because there is some sensitivity in the urban areas for them to get signatures. What kind of help is UNAMA providing?

Senior Public Information Officer: There are provisions about the number of signatures and it is not up to UNAMA to decide to change what you have written in the electoral law, and that is the number of signatures that have been legally decided. We cannot change the number of signatures needed – if that is the answer you are looking for. There again, the only thing we can do is try to promote the fact amongst women, and civil society as a whole, that women have a right and a duty to participate in the elections in Afghanistan .

[The following questions were asked to Sultan Ahmad Baheen, JEMB National Spokesperson, in Dari and translated in English.]

Question: Did the demonstrations affect the nomination in Jalalabad, and if it happened in many provinces, would the JEMB extend the deadline?

Sultan Ahmad Baheen, JEMB National Spokesperson: Our office was closed yesterday in Jalalabad, and we hope to restart our work as soon as possible. The deadline for nominations last for one more week, and this time is a good opportunity for Afghan men and women to come forward and nominate themselves, especially for the Provincial Council.

Question: There are some concerns of security, and especially, among women, and that is why very few women have come forward to nominate themselves. What measures are the JEMB taking?

Sultan Ahmad Baheen, JEMB National Spokesperson: The Afghan national security forces (ANA, ANP, NSD) with the support of the international forces in the country are responsible for the security in the country, and we are in contact with them to raise all issues that might be a matter of concern for the process.

Question: How is the JEMB encouraging women to come forward?

Sultan Ahmad Baheen, JEMB National Spokesperson: Our civic education is already in place. Furthermore, through traditional Afghan institutions like Mullahs, Elders, and through Women organizations and the Ministry of Women's Affairs, we are encouraging all Afghans and especially women to nominate themselves. Also this is a good opportunity for political parties and civil society to nominate their representatives to Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Councils.

* *** *