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New UN envoy wants to help Afghans take charge

The new UN Special Representative for Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, says the UN wants "to help not to lead" Fardin Waezi/UNAMA
    KABUL

    Helping Afghans take full charge of their country’s development, political affairs and peace-making efforts will be a top priority for Staffan de Mistura, the newly appointed special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan.



    “We are here to help not to lead,” Mistura said at his first press conference in Kabul on 23 March, adding that the UN was determined to do “crucial things” in 2010.



    He said reconciliation with armed opposition groups “is urgently needed” to put an end to long-standing conflict.



    On 22 March the UN Security Council extended for another year the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). UN agencies employ over 900 international and 6,000 local staff in Afghanistan, and de Mistura, a long-serving UN diplomat of Swedish and Italian nationality, is the most senior UN official in the country.



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    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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