MAZAR-I-Sharif - In his first visit to Mazar-e-Sharif since the UN mission was attacked on 1 April, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Afghanistan Staffan de Mistura promised that “we will intensify our activities.”

The SRSG met with the Governor of Balkh Ata Mohammad Noor, who reiterated his condolences to the families of those killed in the attack and reassured that the United Nations will be better protected in the future.

“The United Nations will remain here, the UN has been in Afghanistan for decades,” Staffan de Mistura said.

He also met with members of the Provincial Committee of the High Peace Council, the leadership of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams and UN staff.

While visiting the UN compound, de Mistura assured a Gurkha guard that new measures had been introduced to “better protect the protectors.” Along with three international UN staff, four Nepalese guards were killed, after they held their fire and were overwhelmed by the crowd.

“We are grateful for their sacrifice,” he said while stressing that joint investigations with the Afghan authorities are on-going to bring to justice the five or six killers who used the demonstration to enter the building.

“The UNAMA team is back, working hard for the people of Mazar,” de Mistura concluded.

The UNAMA operations centre in the Northern Region is led by Namik Heydarov, succeeding Pavel Ershov, who takes up new responsibilities in the UN Liaison Office in Tehran.

By UNAMA Mazar