News (Consolidated) - UNSOM

KABUL - The elections support project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP/ELECT) is coordinating international support for this year’s Afghanistan elections on 20 August. Margie Cook is the Chief Electoral Advisor with UNDP. Tilak Pokharel and Jamil Danish of UNAMA spoke with her about…

KABUL - Election fever is sweeping the north of Afghanistan as posters of candidates start to line the streets. They’ve started to bloom around the blue mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif, on the walls of Sar-i-Pul city and along the streets of Aqcha, focusing everyone’s attention on the 20 August, the date…

30 June 2009 - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) handed over a two-storey building to the Afghan Ministry of Justice in Jalalabad today. The 20-room building constructed in the Rokhan Mina neighbourhood of the eastern regional hub of Jalalabad will serve as the office of the…

30 June 2009 - The current situation in Afghanistan - marked by the most intense fighting in years, and upcoming presidential polls - is extremely complex, but if managed well could also become a turning point in ending the conflict, the top United Nations envoy to the country said today. “The…

1 July 2009 - The beautiful district of Jabulsaraj, located at the foot of the Hindu Kush mountains was today announced as a peace district. A total of 30 light weapons, belonging to six illegal armed groups were handed over to the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) authorities. With…

KABUL - Fighting the illegal excavation, removal and smuggling of Afghan artifacts is a big challenge for the Afghan Ministry of Culture. UNESCO's director, Shigeru Aoyagi talks exclusively to UNAMA’s Jamil Danish. .

2 July 2009 - For Latifa Sayed, 34, the last two months have been very rewarding. She has been working as an election civic educator and teaching less educated women in Jalalabad about the upcoming elections. The schoolteacher-turned-civic educator - employed by the Independent Election Commission…

5 July 2009 - Afghanistan hasn’t seen a major influx of foreign tourists since the 1970s, but the budding tourism industry has in recent years seen a surge in Afghans visiting different parts of their own country, giving hope for tourism entrepreneurs. Zaman-e-din Baha, the Director of the Afghan…

KABUL - Improved coordination between the Government of Afghanistan and the international community is boosting development efforts across Afghanistan, says a senior United Nations official in Kabul, Afghanistan. “When donors and the Government work together, the impact is much greater,” said Mark…

KABUL - UN envoy, Kai Eide today pressed donors and NGOs to focus on the management of Afghanistan’s water resources to lift impoverished communities out of poverty and foster stability by preventing tribal conflicts over vital resources. Speaking to Afghanistan’s National Conference on Water…

7 July 2009 – The top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, has called for a stop to the increasing interference by government officials in the election process. Eide, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan told journalists in a press conference this afternoon…

KABUL - UN Special Representative Kai Eide warned on Wednesday that violence against women in Afghanistan was not being faced up to within the community and said this was holding Afghanistan back. Eide, the top UN official in Afghanistan, told a meeting in Kabul that political and other leaders had…