UNAMA NEWS Kabul, Afghanistan
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_____________________________________________________________________ Compiled by the Strategic Communication and Spokespersons Unit UNAMA NEWS Kabul, Afghanistan United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan 1 - 8 April 2010 Website: http://unama.unmissions.org ____________________________________________________________ UNAMA Deputy Special Representative (Political) takes up his post 6 April 2010 - German diplomat Martin Kobler, the newly appointed Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (Political) of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), arrived in Kabul today to take up his post. Mr Kobler will be responsible for political issues in UNAMA, including electoral and parliamentary matters. “I am really happy to serve with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan at this particular time. UNAMA is here to serve the people of Afghanistan and I commit to ensuring that all the work we do is in line with the priorities of the Government of Afghanistan. We are here to support and assist the Afghan Government and the Afghan people,” said Mr Kobler. As UNAMA's Deputy Special Representative (Political), Mr Kobler will also be responsible for matters relating to peace and stability, and security-sector reforms. Mr Kobler was posted as Germany’s Ambassador to Staffan de Mistura (Left) Egypt from 2003 to 2005, and Ambassador to Iraq from 2005 to 2007. He was serving as Director-General for UN top envoy Staffan de Mistura observes Mine Action Day with Deminers Culture and Communication in Germany’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs when he was appointed by UN Secretary- 3 April 2010 - Dozens of deminers wearing crisp blue uniforms and face-protecting General Ban Ki-moon in early March to become one of helmets lined up to greet the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for UNAMA’s two Deputy Special Representatives. Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, ambassadors and donors today at a compound devoted to mine awareness and filled with the detritus of war. He has more than 25 years of service in his country’s Foreign Ministry, and vast experience in developing “Today all over the world, particularly the countries with mines, there is special celebration, policies in conflict areas. In 1974, he established the but also a special commitment,” said Mr de Mistura, honouring the fifth anniversary of German Representative Office with the Palestinian International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action (4 April). “I am Authority in Jericho, staying on as Office Head for three delighted to be with the donors who are helping the Afghans to continue to confront what is years. Then he moved to the position of Deputy Head of one of the biggest problems Afghanistan has had for more than 30 years.” the Balkan Task Force of the German Foreign Ministry from 1997 to 1998. More than 10,000 deminers and associated staff work in Afghanistan, many for implementing partners of the UN-supported implementing partners of the The Mine Action From 1998 to 2000, he was Deputy Chief of Cabinet to Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA). Mr de Mistura, who was himself involved with clearing then German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, before areas of mines for the return of Afghan refugees when he worked here 22 years ago, noted being elevated to Chief of Cabinet to Minister Fischer that since then, more than 15,000 minefields and battlefields, have been cleared, and from 2000 to 2003. The German ambassador – who millions of Afghans have received mine risk education throughout the country. holds an advanced law degree and speaks German, English, French, Indonesian and Arabic – has also served ”Afghanistan can be proud of being on the side of example, rather than the problem. with UN missions in Haiti, Nicaragua and Cambodia. Afghanistan needs this feeling these days in particular, not only on demining, but in many other fields. They must feel this pride that helps us to go forward,” he added. Born in Stuttgart in 1953, Mr Kobler is married and has three children. De Mistura joined Dr Abdul Martin Adrak, general director of the Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority, United States Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and Canadian Ambassador William Crosbie in saluting deminers and other mine action staff at a ceremony held at the compound of the Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation (OMAR). Featuring retired helicopters and fighter jets converted to classrooms, a museum of various weapons used throughout conflicts in the region and a workshop where staff disabled by mines produce demining tools, OMAR functions as a theme park for mine awareness, education, prevention and rehabilitation, on the outskirts of Kabul. Five demining implementing partners were represented at the event: Afghanistan Technical Consultants, Mine Clearance and Planning Agency, HALO Trust, the Demining Agency for Afghanistan and OMAR. These organizations have removed hundreds of thousands of landmines and millions of other explosive remnants of war, helping some 1,370 Afghan communities to be declared mine-free. Currently, about 40 Afghans a month are injured or killed by mines, about one quarter the number for 2002. Martin Kobler (Right) _____________________________________________________________________ Compiled by the Strategic Communication and Spokespersons Unit UNAMA NEWS Kabul, Afghanistan United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan 1 - 8 April 2010 Website: http://unama.unmissions.org ____________________________________________________________ Mine Action Day in Afghanistan 4 April 2010 - Across Afghanistan the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action has been marked today with a number of events and activities. In Kabul five young artists painted their vision of the dangers posed by landmines and other Explosive Remnants of War on the walls of the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA). Further west near Herat, to mark the clearance of 4.8 square kilometres of mine fields and 5.3 square kilometres of battle areas in 2009, one of the major mine clearance organizations in the world, the Halo Trust, briefed guests in the Alaqe Qazi area of the Khosan district on the border with Iran. The Halo Trust started working in Afghanistan 1988 and has been in Herat since 2007; the Trust currently employs a task force of around 500 staff in Herat province. Staffan de Mistura (Left), Mohammad Noor Atta (Right) According to MACCA a total of 51,743 anti-personnel mines, 1,152,738 Explosive Remnants of War and 746 anti-tank mines were destroyed in 2009 in Afghanistan. UN Special Representative visits Mazar Last week MACCA reported that in January and February this year, the Mine Action 6 April 2010 - The Special Representative of the UN Programme of Afghanistan, which comprises a number of implementing partners Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Staffan de coordinated by MACCA, cleared 1,727 anti-personnel mines, 135 anti-tank mines and Mistura, visited Mazar-i-Sharif today where he more than 110,000 different types of Explosive Remnants of War in 19 communities. promised the continuation of United Nations assistance. Yesterday in Kabul at Afghanistan’s main event to mark Mine Action Day, the recently arrived Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan Staffan de Mr de Mistura first went to the famous Blue Mosque in Mistura, recalled his time in the country in the late 1980s when he was given an Mazar where he was hosted by religious officials and emergency whistle as present by a deminer. visited the Mosque’s museum. “This whistle used to belong to an Afghan deminer. When we were moving…we entered He then proceeded to the UNAMA offices in the city into a mined area. And this Afghan deminer used this whistle to stop the team to going where he held meetings with staff and was briefed on UN any further. Later he gave this to me and I have carried it ever since. I am very glad to activities in the north of Afghanistan. bring it back to Afghanistan,” said Mr de Mistura. Mr de Mistura met with Mohammad Noor Atta, the MACCA estimates an area of around 600 square kilometres still needs to be cleared of Governor of Balkh province before having a working mines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW). lunch with the Governor and a press briefing with journalists. At a rate of 120 kilometres annually, that would take up to six years at a cost of US$ 500 million. “We are impressed by your achievements, and we would like to make them an example,” said Mr de Mistura. MACCA says for 2010-11 US$ 242 million in funding is needed of which about US$ 100 million is confirmed. “The United Nations has been here for many years, and will continue to support the Afghan people even when By Kangying Guo, Fraidoon Poya and Henri Burgard, UNAMA things will go better. We will make sure that the Northern Region will receive substantive aid, even if the security situation is far better than in other parts of the country,” he added. During the meeting with UN staff the Special Representative encouraged all UN units to get closer to the local communities, to be present everywhere across the region and to continue to improve all programmes and activities. “We have a strong office here. We will make it stronger,” he concluded. UNAMA has provincial offices in Sar-i-Pul and Faryab, with a new office in Jawzjan to be opened in the near future. Mr de Mistura arrived in Afghanistan as the UN’s top envoy on 13 March and last week he visited the UN’s Gardez operations in the east of Afghanistan.