Afghan Delegates in Bonn Struggling Over Political Structure

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 03, 2001

Afghan Delegates in Bonn Struggling Over Political Structure

The U.N-sponsored talks on post-Taliban rule in Afghanistan dragged on for a seventh day Monday asfactious Afghan leaders continued to haggle over who should take what posts in a proposed interim authority.

The U.N. office here for the talks canceled a regular early afternoon news briefing earlier, signaling that all four rival groups representing various factions at the talks were in their final bargaining stage to reach a deal.

Many diplomats including those from Germany expected to see a result in a few days, but some Asian diplomats were confident thata deal could be produced later on Monday.

"The missing link is the list of names," U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a press conference in Bonn on Sunday. He said all Afghan representatives had met with U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to look at a U.N. proposed draft agreement, which reflects"views and grounds" among parties at the talks.

According to a copy of "the first draft" obtained by Xinhua, the Afghans agree in principle "the need to ensure broad representation in these interim arrangements of all segments of the Afghan population, including groups that have not been adequately represented" at the Bonn talks.

An agreement would be a "first step toward the establishment ofa broad-based, multi-ethnic and fully representative government," the draft said.

The leaders also said they had asked a U.N.-mandated multinational force to deploy in the war-torn country under the will of all Afhans themselves before there is the need "some time"for "a new Afghan security force to be fully constituted and functional."

Meanwhile, they believe the U.N. "has a particularly important role to play in the period prior to the establishment of permanentinstitutions in Afghanistan."

Under the draft, the delegates at the talks have agreed in principle to set up an Interim Authority, which consists of an Interim Administration of 29 members, a Special Independent Commission and a Supreme Court of Afghanistan.

Being "the repository of Afghan sovereignty," the Authority "shall represent Afghanistan in its external relations and shall occupy the seat of Afghanistan at the United Nations and in its specialized agencies, as well as in other international institutions and conferences." As a result, the Authority would replace legal status of the former Afghan government led by Burhanuddin Rabbani, which the U.N. currently still recognizes as a legitimate entity.

During a six-month limit of the Authority, the draft said, the special commission will prepare for a Loya Jirga, a traditional grand assembly representing various tribes and minorities, which "shall decide on a Transitional Authority" for an 18-month period. And former Afghan king Zahir Shah will open the Loya Jirga as a symbolic figurehead of national unity.

During the time limit of the transitional government, another Loya Jirga should be held "in order to adopt a new constitution for Afghanistan," according to the draft released at the talks in the Petersberg Guesthouse, a hilltop hotel near Bonn.

The four negotiating parties are the Nortghern Alliance, Rome group of Afghan exiles who support the former king, Cyprus group made up of other in-exile Afghans and Pakistan-based Peshawar Convention.

If the deal is finally clinched, diplomats here believed, peaceprospects in Afghanistan will remain unclear. The main problem will be how to implement the agreement effectively in Kabul, the Afghan capital currently in the hands of the Northern Alliance, asthe comprise deal is a result of strong pressure from big donor countries, they said.

Furthermore, they said, how to keep security in Kabul and otherparts of the war-battered country will be another serious challenge since the U.S.-led military operation in Afghanistan is still going on.

U.N. Draws Up Draft Accord on Post-Taliban Interim Gov't