Taliban
rough up aid officials of European Commission
September 29,1997: The European Commissioner for
Humanitarian Affairs Emma Bonino was arrested and then released while her
officials were beaten up by the Taliban fighters during their visit to
a Kabul hospital on Monday.
The EC arrived in Kabul Monday morning along with18
other members of her delegation and journalists. Ms Bonino said theTaliban
hit the members of her delegation with Klashnikov assault rifles and she
was threatened by a Taliban fighter armed with a Klashnikov. She said the
members of her group were sacred but no one was seriously hurt.
The group was arrested and detained at a police
station in Central Kabul for taking pictures of women at a local hospital.
Taliban who control Kabul have strict rules against taking pictures of
any one. A Taliban security official said video cameras, tap recorders
and other equipment were confiscated.
After being held for about three hours the group
was released by the Taliban authorities. Ms Bonino accused the Taliban
of inflicting a reign of terror on her group and the people of Afghanistan.
After the group was released Taliban officials apologised to Ms Bonino.The
Commissioner was in Kabul to assess the European Union’s programme in Afghanistan.
The EU is the largest single donor of emergency aid to Afghanistan with
donations of about 40 million dollars a year.
There has been limited reaction from the EUC. VOAsaid
EU officials in Brussels refused all official comments on incident until
after she was released and then tried to play it down. However they did
admit that Commission’s President had contact with the Luxembourg Government
which holds the presidency of the European Union’s Council of Ministers.He
asked the Luxembourg to being preparations for a diplomatic initiativein
case the group was detained for any length of time.
EU spokesman welcomed the release of the group.He
said the Commissioner Bonino mission was purely a humanitarian one and
there was no justification for the way in which she and her party have
been treated.
Commissioner Bonino said members of the party have
been beaten on their backs with guns. She said it was very tense and claimed
the incident demonstrated how people live in Afghanistan.
AFP adds: Emma Bonino returned to Islamabad late
Monday from Kabul where she and her entourage were detained by Taliban.Bonino
did not speak to journalists present at Islamabad airport. Flanked by EU
officials, she was taken to a waiting car which drove her to her hotel
in Islamabad, witnesses said.
Members of her delegation also returned with Bonino
who had gone to Kabul on Sunday on a two-day trip to assess the political
and aid set up in the Afghan capital.
The journalists arrested with her included a CNN
team led by Christiane Amapour, a French television crew from Canal Plus,a
British journalist and two Italian photographers.
The head o the Taliban’s detection section, Haji
Habibullah said the group had engaged in filming and photographing women
at a hospital. This is just to convey to them that they cannot break the
law, he said, adding the male director of the hospital had raised the alarm.
However, Habibullah appeared unconcerned of the
identity of his prisoner and said he was proud of his catch. I myself brought
them in my pick-up he boasted, they were taking pictures of women. In areas
under Taliban control both the photography and filming of living creaturesis
strictly banned.
According to several aid worker, the incident escalated
when the CNN crew attempted to pass off a blank video cassette to angered
officials at the hospital following complaints over the open use of their
cameras.
Bonino is the most senior foreign official to visit
Kabul since it fell to the Taliban one year ago.
Sources in the delegation told AFP Sunday the tripwas
aimed at raising concerns over the Taliban’ strict restrictions on women
who have been banned from working and education and forced to weara tent-like
cape covering the entire body.
According to aid workers, women once made up 40
percent of Kabul’s workforce and without pay have been reduced to begging.
The Muslim, September
30,1997