Ban fears violence will mar Afghan vote result

Pakistani security officials secure the site after a suicide bomb blast in Peshawar yesterday while bystanders help injured suicide blast victims at the site (Inset). Suicide bombers blew up vehicles packed with explosives, killing 16 people in northwest Pakistan on Saturday and escalating a campaign of revenge against security forces, officials said. Photo: AFP

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon fears violence will mar the announcement of the Afghan presidential election results, the organisation said in a statement yesterday.
In his quarterly report on the war-torn nation, Ban writes: "The level of alleged electoral irregularities has generated significant political turbulence leading to fears of a return to violence when election results are announced."
The secretary general concludes that a "lack of access to parts of the country owing to the ongoing conflict...seriously hampered the transparency of the elections" but that institutions such as the Electoral Complaints Commission were able to address many problems.
Based on preliminary results, incumbent Afghan president Hamid Karzai is ahead in the polls, with 54.6 percent of the votes declared valid, against 27.8 percent for his main rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
The result will not be finalised until the outcome of a number of investigations into charges of electoral fraud.
If a significant number of votes are invalidated, Karzai's score could edge below 50 percent, forcing him into a second round run-off with Abdullah in a second turn.
"A credible audit and recount process is now coming to its conclusion" after which "it will be of critical importance for the results to be accepted by all so that the election of Afghanistan's future president can be certified and a new government can be formed", Ban adds.
"The Secretary-General also stated that it is "imperative" that the international community maintain a long-term commitment to Afghanistan, while adding that there must be a "decisive shift" in that relationship", the UN statement said.
"The government must be enabled and determined to assume all the responsibilities that belong to a sovereign State," Ban was quoted as saying.
"The international community, for its part, must play a role that is clearly one of support."
Corruption and incompetence in the Afghan government are regularly condemned by the international community.
Afghans voted on August 20 in the second presidential election in the nation's history.
Meanwhile, rising violence ahead of Afghanistan's disputed presidential election made August the deadliest month of the year for civilians, the UN said, warning in a new report that attacks could spike again when the final vote results are announced.
A total of 1,500 civilians died in Afghanistan from January through August, according to the report released late Friday. About three-quarters of the deaths were blamed on militants. The UN report did not specify the August death toll, but said the month was the deadliest of the year as the Taliban stepped up an intimidation campaign to discourage Afghans from voting in the Aug. 20 election.
The UN said coalition forces were to blame for about a quarter of civilian deaths in 2009 most of them in airstrikes. The top Nato commander, US Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has made protecting Afghan civilians a top priority.