Talks continue on Afghan settlement.

Talks continue on Afghan settlement

Talks aimed at facilitating the early realization of a comprehensive political settlement in Afghanistan, in accordance with the 14 April 1988 Geneva Accords, are continuing.

On 26 April 1990, Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar met in New York with Pakistani Foreign Minister Sahabzada Yaqub Khan. The next day, he conferred with Afghan Foreign Minister Abdul Wakil.

Benon Sevan, the Secretary-General's Personal Representative in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in April, May and June, met with Afghan President Najibullah in Kabul and with Pakistan President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Afghan opposition groups in Islamabad.

He also conferred with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Velayati and other Foreign Minister officials, and Afghan opposition groups, in Teheran.

In Rome, he had talks with former Afghan King Zahir Shah. In Geneva, Mr. Sevan held a fourth round of expert level talks with a Soviet delegation.

Before leaving for Iran in late June, he reported to the Secretary-General in New York on his various meetings. Mr. Sevan was accompanied by Giandomenico Picco, Assistant to the Secretary-General for Special Assignments.

International consensus

On 19 April, a UN official noted that it was unfair to ask the Afghan nation to express its self-determination when there was no consensus yet among the guarantors of the Geneva agreements and the countries neighbouring Afghanistan on how to remote foreign obstacles which still existed on the way of the Afghan self-determination.

Efforts also had to be pursued to structure the Afghan opposition, he stated. However, ideas that had been suggested so far to structure the opposition had not worked.

The official stressed that foreign countries which were actors in the Afghan theatre should realize that they could not individually suggest and/Or impose a particular outcome.

The Secretary-General, he observed, would continue his active diplomacy in bringing together the pieces of that international consensus among neighbouring countries and the two major Powers. At the same time, the UN was trying to provide humanitarian assistance to all Afghans irrespective of their political position.

On 25 April, Afghan Foreign Minister Wakil told the press that he hoped the UN would take effective steps to ensuer peace in Afghanistan and implement the Geneva Accords, which he said had been "blatantly violated by Pakistan". A full international understanding on a unified mechanism of such a settlement deserved special attention, he said.

On 26 April, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khan told the press that he had informed the Secretary-General of his country's efforts to promote a peaceful settlement and had briefed him on the proposal for elections to be under the auspices of the UN or the Organization of the Islamic Conference.