Security Council considers Afghan complaint against Pakistan.

Security Council considers Afghan complaint against Pakistan

During seven meetings in April, the Security Council considered a complaint by Afghanistan regarding what was termed "the recent unprecedented intensification of Pakistan's military aggression and its overt and covert interference" in Afghanistan's internal affairs.

Forty-three countries participated in debate between 11 and 26 April. The Council adjourned without a draft resolution having been tabled.

Afghanistan, which requested that the Council convene, charged in a 3 April letter to the Council President (S/20561) that Pakistani aggression and interference had "posed serious danger to the territorial integrity, independence and national sovereignty of Afghanistan and has endangered peace and security in the region".

Pakistan on 7 April, in a similar letter (S/20577), said the situation inside Afghanistan neither involved a dispute between Afghanistan and any other country nor was it a situation that endangered international peace and security. Pakistan opposed a Security Council debate, stating that "unproductive recriminations" could only hinder efforts to facilitate a comprehensive political settlement.

Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, in a statement on 14 April--the one-year anniversary of the signing of the historic Geneva Accords setting forth a peace settlement--reiterated his grave concern over escalating fighting, continued suffering of the Afghan people and heavy casualties. Millions of Afghan refugees had been unable to return, and their numbers were now increasing, he said.

The Accords should be implemented "in an integrated manner", he said, with the parties--Afghanistan and Pakistan--and the guarantors--the United States and the USSR--ensuring scrupulous and faithful implementation of all obligations. The United Nations Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan (UNGOMAP) would continue to be present until the Accords were fully implemented.

Mr. Perez de Cuellar appealed to all Afghans to work to establish a broad-based government through an intra-Afghan dialogue. The UN, he said, would continue to assist in the early realization of a comprehensive, political solution in Afghanistan.

Is a war still going on?

In Council debate, Abdul Wakil, Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, said Pakistan had launched a "fullfledged war" against Afghanistan, using Pakistani forces as well as armed "opposition extremists" and military advisers of some countries. He said these "extremists" were armed with advanced weapons and had been trained by the Pakistan Army.

He favoured additional UNGOMAP outposts to supervise certain areas in Pakistan. He said Pakistan, which continued to create obstacles to the return of Afghan refugees, should establish mixed commissions for refugee repatriation, as envisaged in the Geneva Accords.

If the Council did not take measures to stop Pakistani intervention, the Afghan Government would take steps "to give the kind of response to aggression that it deems necessary". The continuation of the present grave situation would result in a serious regional conflict, he concluded.

Iqbal Akhund, Adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Foreign Affairs and National Security, said the Afghan struggle to overthrow an "illegal and unrepresentative" regime, imposed on them by external military intervention, was continuing.

UNGOMAP had found no evidence of violations involving transport of arms to Afghanistan from Pakistan; prevention of Afghan refugees from returning; and violation of Afghan airspace or massing troops along borders.

Afghan refugees, he said, did not want to return until a truly representative government had been established.

Aleksandr Belonogov of the USSR said the undermining of the Geneva Accords could well generate doubts as to the possibility of achieving progress in settling other regional crises with UN assistance. By supplying the Afghan opposition with weapons on Pakistan territory, the United States had been pushing Pakistan towards a violation of the bilateral Afghan-Pakistan agreement on non-interference and renunciation of intervention. He wanted a UN expert group established to exchange views on the Afghan settlement.

Thomas Pickering of the United States opposed any attempt to use UN mechanisms in place to deal with problems created by the Afghan conflict, to perpetuate the "illegitimate Kabul regime", or to impose a political settlement on Afghans. This was not the time to impose a "specific future political configuration" upon Afghans.

Other news

On 10 May 1989, the Secretary-General selected Benon Sevan to be his Personal Representative in Afghanistan and Pakistan at the level of Assistant Secretary-General. Mr. Sevan, who had been posted to the area since April 1988, actively pursued his contacts with the various segments of the Afghan people during May 1989.

On 19 May, the Secretary-General announced the appointment of Col. Heikki Juhani Happonen, a national of Finland, as Deputy to his Representative on the Settlement of the Situation relating to Afghanistan.

On 12 October 1988, pledges amounting to nearly $800 million were made by 20 nations, the European Economic Community and the Holy See for the UN Humanitarian and Economic Assistance Programmes relating to Afghanistan--"Operation Salam". That was in addition to pledges of some $97 million made earlier.

A project to help thousands of Afghan refugees in the south Khorasan area of Iran is being undertaken by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Iran's Ministry of Agriculture. Over-grazing and the continual search by the refugees for fuelwood is causing deforestation and increasing the spread of desert conditions in the province.