http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtm ... ID=6167391
Afghans Storm Agha Khan Aid Office, Beat Staff
Tue Sep 7, 2004 07:49 AM ET
KABUL (Reuters) - Hundreds of irate Afghans attacked an aid agency run by the spiritual leader of the Ismaili sect after rumors spread the office was involved in converting majority Sunni Muslims to Ismaili beliefs, officials said. Several local and foreign employees of the Agha Khan Development Network were beaten during Tuesday's attack in Faizabad, capital of Badakhshan province, but no one was badly hurt, said the government officials, who did not want to be identified.
They said the attack was provoked by rumors the agency was using its aid
projects to convert Sunni Muslims.
But a senior official of the aid agency, who also did not want to be
identified by name, said the attack was the result of a misunderstanding
involving two local women employees.
He said the women had become delirious after working to fortify wheat in a poorly aired room and a rumor spread that they had been deliberately drugged and sexually assaulted.
"Both the women and the hospital said this was not true, but the rumor
spread like wildfire," he said.
He said a large crowd gathered and began hurling stones at the office and a group tried to set fire to the building.
Police intervened to disperse the attackers, and no serious injuries were
reported.
Ismailis, who follow a Shia sect of Islam, are a small minority in Afghanistan. Some live in remote areas of Badakhshan, an impoverished
mountainous region near the border with Tajikistan, where the sect has tens of thousands of followers.
The sect is looked down upon by some Hardline Sunni clerics and its
followers were persecuted during the rule of the Hardline Taliban until
2001. Since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban, the Agha Khan has set up a range of aid projects in the country and has launched the second-largest mobile telephone company, called Roshan.
Afghans Storm Agha Khan Aid Office, Beat Staff
Interfaith Dialogue
I think the incident underscores the importance of avoiding faith as a primary focus of discourse with other interpretations of Islam or other faiths, as stated by MHI in his speech delivered at the Annual Conference of German Ambassadors, Berlin, September 6, 2004. Rather the dialogue should be based on broader issues of civilisation encompassing art, culture, education, science, health, wealth creation etc.
The speech can be accessed at: http://akdn.org/speeches/21_Berlin06094.htm
The speech can be accessed at: http://akdn.org/speeches/21_Berlin06094.htm
Afghans Storm Agha Khan Aid Office, Beat Staff
Wednesday September 08, 2004 (1215 PST)
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=76503
KABUL, September 09 (Online): Hundreds of irate Afghans attacked an aid agency run by the spiritual leader of the Ismaili sect after rumors spread the office was involved in converting majority Sunni Muslims to Ismaili beliefs, officials said.
Several local and foreign employees of the Agha Khan Development Network were beaten during Tuesday's attack in Faizabad, capital of Badakhshan province, but no one was badly hurt, said the government officials, who did not want to be identified.
They said the attack was provoked by rumors the agency was using its aid projects to convert Sunni Muslims.
But a senior official of the aid agency, who also did not want to be identified by name, said the attack was the result of a misunderstanding involving two local women employees.
He said the women had become delirious after working to fortify wheat in a poorly aired room and a rumor spread that they had been deliberately drugged and sexually assaulted.
"Both the women and the hospital said this was not true, but the rumor spread like wildfire," he said.
He said a large crowd gathered and began hurling stones at the office and a group tried to set fire to the building.
Police intervened to disperse the attackers, and no serious injuries were reported.
Ismailis, who follow a Shia sect of Islam, are a small minority in Afghanistan. Some live in remote areas of Badakhshan, an impoverished mountainous region near the border with Tajikistan, where the sect has tens of thousands of followers.
The sect is looked down upon by some Hardline Sunni clerics and its followers were persecuted during the rule of the Hardline Taliban until 2001. Since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban, the Agha Khan has set up a range of aid projects in the country and has launched the second-largest mobile telephone company, called Roshan.
Afghan minister says attacks on NGOs inevitable
Attacks on aid organizations in Afghanistan are inevitable, according to a government minister, who said the widespread perception that aid workers were wasting money that should be spent on Afghans was fuelling the violence.
The comments by Planning Minister Ramazan Bachardoust came after an attack on at least two foreign aid agencies in the normally quiet northeastern city of Faizabad prompted the evacuation of many foreign aid workers to Kabul.
More than 30 aid workers have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of last year.
"I fear the worst can happen to non-governmental organisations in Afghanistan because Afghans are convinced (the NGOs) are taking for themselves the money that should be distributed to the Afghan people," Bachardoust told AFP.
His planning ministry in conjunction with the rural development ministry oversees the operations of aid agencies involved in rebuilding Afghanistan's shattered infrastructure after two decades of war.
The minister said he shared the perception that NGOs were wasting money that should be spent on Afghans.
"I believe they are using the majority of that money," he said, adding that violence against aid workers was "inevitable" as a result.
Since his appointment four months ago he has been hostile to aid agencies, and hailed the withdrawal of Nobel prize-winning medical aid agency Medecines Sans Frontieres (MSF) in July after five of its staff were killed.
"Afghans pray for them to leave. We don't want that kind of NGO here," he said.
The minister accused humanitarian organisations in Afghanistan of behaving like "private firms" and of using 80 percent of their aid budgets to fund administrative costs such as staff salaries.
"It was a strategic error to confine the reconstruction of the country to humanitarian organisations," rather than the private sector and government, he said.
He said the ministry was drawing up legislation to bar non-governmental organisations from undertaking reconstruction projects in Afghanistan.
Bachardoust said the international donors' conference in Tokyo in 2002 in which billions of dollars were pledged by foreign governments to rebuild Afghanistan had channeled aid through foreign aid agencies and the United Nations instead of the government and Afghan firms.
"Afghan companies have not had the chance to get access to the market. The game is flawed from the beginning because you have humanitarian organisations that don't pay taxes competing with national and international firms," he said.
"Today you will not find one capable Afghan with initiative working for the government which pays 40 dollars a month whereas NGOs pay at least 500 dollars."
A week earlier, 34 aid organisations in Afghanistan wrote an open letter in which they denounced attacks of their staff and rising violence.
Bachardoust denied allegations by some aid organisations that his ministry was partially responsible for the atmosphere of violence NGOs were working in.
There are 2,300 Afghan humanitarian organisations and 337 international aid agencies working in the country, according to planning ministry figures.
End.
Wednesday September 08, 2004 (1215 PST)
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=76503
KABUL, September 09 (Online): Hundreds of irate Afghans attacked an aid agency run by the spiritual leader of the Ismaili sect after rumors spread the office was involved in converting majority Sunni Muslims to Ismaili beliefs, officials said.
Several local and foreign employees of the Agha Khan Development Network were beaten during Tuesday's attack in Faizabad, capital of Badakhshan province, but no one was badly hurt, said the government officials, who did not want to be identified.
They said the attack was provoked by rumors the agency was using its aid projects to convert Sunni Muslims.
But a senior official of the aid agency, who also did not want to be identified by name, said the attack was the result of a misunderstanding involving two local women employees.
He said the women had become delirious after working to fortify wheat in a poorly aired room and a rumor spread that they had been deliberately drugged and sexually assaulted.
"Both the women and the hospital said this was not true, but the rumor spread like wildfire," he said.
He said a large crowd gathered and began hurling stones at the office and a group tried to set fire to the building.
Police intervened to disperse the attackers, and no serious injuries were reported.
Ismailis, who follow a Shia sect of Islam, are a small minority in Afghanistan. Some live in remote areas of Badakhshan, an impoverished mountainous region near the border with Tajikistan, where the sect has tens of thousands of followers.
The sect is looked down upon by some Hardline Sunni clerics and its followers were persecuted during the rule of the Hardline Taliban until 2001. Since U.S.-led forces overthrew the Taliban, the Agha Khan has set up a range of aid projects in the country and has launched the second-largest mobile telephone company, called Roshan.
Afghan minister says attacks on NGOs inevitable
Attacks on aid organizations in Afghanistan are inevitable, according to a government minister, who said the widespread perception that aid workers were wasting money that should be spent on Afghans was fuelling the violence.
The comments by Planning Minister Ramazan Bachardoust came after an attack on at least two foreign aid agencies in the normally quiet northeastern city of Faizabad prompted the evacuation of many foreign aid workers to Kabul.
More than 30 aid workers have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of last year.
"I fear the worst can happen to non-governmental organisations in Afghanistan because Afghans are convinced (the NGOs) are taking for themselves the money that should be distributed to the Afghan people," Bachardoust told AFP.
His planning ministry in conjunction with the rural development ministry oversees the operations of aid agencies involved in rebuilding Afghanistan's shattered infrastructure after two decades of war.
The minister said he shared the perception that NGOs were wasting money that should be spent on Afghans.
"I believe they are using the majority of that money," he said, adding that violence against aid workers was "inevitable" as a result.
Since his appointment four months ago he has been hostile to aid agencies, and hailed the withdrawal of Nobel prize-winning medical aid agency Medecines Sans Frontieres (MSF) in July after five of its staff were killed.
"Afghans pray for them to leave. We don't want that kind of NGO here," he said.
The minister accused humanitarian organisations in Afghanistan of behaving like "private firms" and of using 80 percent of their aid budgets to fund administrative costs such as staff salaries.
"It was a strategic error to confine the reconstruction of the country to humanitarian organisations," rather than the private sector and government, he said.
He said the ministry was drawing up legislation to bar non-governmental organisations from undertaking reconstruction projects in Afghanistan.
Bachardoust said the international donors' conference in Tokyo in 2002 in which billions of dollars were pledged by foreign governments to rebuild Afghanistan had channeled aid through foreign aid agencies and the United Nations instead of the government and Afghan firms.
"Afghan companies have not had the chance to get access to the market. The game is flawed from the beginning because you have humanitarian organisations that don't pay taxes competing with national and international firms," he said.
"Today you will not find one capable Afghan with initiative working for the government which pays 40 dollars a month whereas NGOs pay at least 500 dollars."
A week earlier, 34 aid organisations in Afghanistan wrote an open letter in which they denounced attacks of their staff and rising violence.
Bachardoust denied allegations by some aid organisations that his ministry was partially responsible for the atmosphere of violence NGOs were working in.
There are 2,300 Afghan humanitarian organisations and 337 international aid agencies working in the country, according to planning ministry figures.
End.
http://www.bassirat.net/news/read_news.php?n=1698
Afghanistan - Situation sécuritaire
Des rumeurs à l’origine de l’attaque des locaux de deux ONG dans le nord-est de l’Afghanistan
Bassirat.net
08 Septembre 2004
Une foule en colère a attaqué mardi les locaux de l'organisation Focus for Humanitarian Assistance à Faizâbâd, le chef-lieu de la province du Badakhshan.
Cet accès de fièvre semble avoir été provoqué par des rumeurs d’empoisonnement et de viols d’Afghanes travaillant pour l'organisation Focus for Humanitarian Assistance. « Quatre femmes travaillant pour Focus ont été empoisonnées et ont été emmenées à l'hôpital », a affirmé à l'AFP le vice-gouverneur de la province Shamsul Rahman Shams. Elles se sont évanouies alors qu’elles manipulaient des mélanges nutritionnels destinés à enrichir du blé.
Le séjour prolongé des femmes dans les locaux de l'organisation a déclenché les rumeurs et provoqué la colère de la foule qui a jeté des pierres sur le bâtiment abritant l’ONG Focus. Les bureaux voisins de l’ONG Medair ont également été visés et un début d’incendie a été maîtrisé. Le personnel de Focus (10 personnes environ) ainsi que les expatriés travaillant pour Medair ont quitté Faizâbâd.
Sous couvert de l’anonymat, deux officiels membres du gouvernement ont affirmé à l’agence Reuters qu’une autre rumeur accusant les membres de Focus de se livrer à des activités prosélytes pourrait être à l’origine de l’attaque des locaux de l’ONG. Focus appartient au Réseau Aga Khan pour le Développement (AKDN) dirigée par le prince Aga Khan, le leader de la communauté ismaélienne. Considérés comme hérétiques par les sunnites, les ismaéliens (ou septimaniens) sont des chiites qui considèrent Ali, cousin et gendre du prophète, comme son successeur légitime. Toutefois, alors que la majorité des chiites reconnaissent douze imams comme descendants légitimes d'Ali, les ismaéliens arrêtent la lignée de leurs imams à Ismaïl, fils du VIème imam, qui fut appelé par ce dernier à lui succéder avant même son décès en 760 après J.C
Afghanistan - Situation sécuritaire
Des rumeurs à l’origine de l’attaque des locaux de deux ONG dans le nord-est de l’Afghanistan
Bassirat.net
08 Septembre 2004
Une foule en colère a attaqué mardi les locaux de l'organisation Focus for Humanitarian Assistance à Faizâbâd, le chef-lieu de la province du Badakhshan.
Cet accès de fièvre semble avoir été provoqué par des rumeurs d’empoisonnement et de viols d’Afghanes travaillant pour l'organisation Focus for Humanitarian Assistance. « Quatre femmes travaillant pour Focus ont été empoisonnées et ont été emmenées à l'hôpital », a affirmé à l'AFP le vice-gouverneur de la province Shamsul Rahman Shams. Elles se sont évanouies alors qu’elles manipulaient des mélanges nutritionnels destinés à enrichir du blé.
Le séjour prolongé des femmes dans les locaux de l'organisation a déclenché les rumeurs et provoqué la colère de la foule qui a jeté des pierres sur le bâtiment abritant l’ONG Focus. Les bureaux voisins de l’ONG Medair ont également été visés et un début d’incendie a été maîtrisé. Le personnel de Focus (10 personnes environ) ainsi que les expatriés travaillant pour Medair ont quitté Faizâbâd.
Sous couvert de l’anonymat, deux officiels membres du gouvernement ont affirmé à l’agence Reuters qu’une autre rumeur accusant les membres de Focus de se livrer à des activités prosélytes pourrait être à l’origine de l’attaque des locaux de l’ONG. Focus appartient au Réseau Aga Khan pour le Développement (AKDN) dirigée par le prince Aga Khan, le leader de la communauté ismaélienne. Considérés comme hérétiques par les sunnites, les ismaéliens (ou septimaniens) sont des chiites qui considèrent Ali, cousin et gendre du prophète, comme son successeur légitime. Toutefois, alors que la majorité des chiites reconnaissent douze imams comme descendants légitimes d'Ali, les ismaéliens arrêtent la lignée de leurs imams à Ismaïl, fils du VIème imam, qui fut appelé par ce dernier à lui succéder avant même son décès en 760 après J.C
-
Guest
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004- ... 963420.htm
CHINA VIEW
XINHUA online
Thursday, Sept.9, 2004
UN asks Afghan to ensure security for aid agencies
www.chinaview.cn 2004-09-09 21:32:56
KABUL, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations on Thursday asked the Afghan government to condemn a recent attack on a relief agency in northeastern area besides ensuring security for aid workers.
"We urge the government to condemn clearly attack against Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)'s personnel wherever they came from," spokesman of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Manoel de Almeida e Silva told journalists here at a news briefing.
He made this remark after a mob stormed a Western aid agency office FOCUS in Faizabad, the provincial capital of northeast Badakhshan province which shares a border with China, last Tuesday.The agency is said to be funded by Agha Khan Foundation, a famous humanitarian aid agency operating in the country.
"UNAMA condemns the rampage against FOCUS and other NGOs," the spokesman added.
The violent attack on the FOCUS office took place after rumors that three of its female local staff had been sexually assaulted.
The UN spokesman rejected the rumors as unfounded.
"The government has a paramount duty to uphold law and order," said the spokesman.
Over 20 aid workers have been killed and more than 30 others injured by suspected Taliban and like-minded groups over the past one year.
"We request that the legislation regulating NGOs that has been prepared be adopted without any further delay and we reaffirm thatNGOs have played and would play an important role in the economic and social reconstruction of Afghanistan," he maintained. Enditem
CHINA VIEW
XINHUA online
Thursday, Sept.9, 2004
UN asks Afghan to ensure security for aid agencies
www.chinaview.cn 2004-09-09 21:32:56
KABUL, Sept. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations on Thursday asked the Afghan government to condemn a recent attack on a relief agency in northeastern area besides ensuring security for aid workers.
"We urge the government to condemn clearly attack against Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)'s personnel wherever they came from," spokesman of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Manoel de Almeida e Silva told journalists here at a news briefing.
He made this remark after a mob stormed a Western aid agency office FOCUS in Faizabad, the provincial capital of northeast Badakhshan province which shares a border with China, last Tuesday.The agency is said to be funded by Agha Khan Foundation, a famous humanitarian aid agency operating in the country.
"UNAMA condemns the rampage against FOCUS and other NGOs," the spokesman added.
The violent attack on the FOCUS office took place after rumors that three of its female local staff had been sexually assaulted.
The UN spokesman rejected the rumors as unfounded.
"The government has a paramount duty to uphold law and order," said the spokesman.
Over 20 aid workers have been killed and more than 30 others injured by suspected Taliban and like-minded groups over the past one year.
"We request that the legislation regulating NGOs that has been prepared be adopted without any further delay and we reaffirm thatNGOs have played and would play an important role in the economic and social reconstruction of Afghanistan," he maintained. Enditem