950803

K - J - S - 03-08-1995

Algabid

receives OIC

mission's report

on Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: The Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Dr. Hamid Algabid has received the preliminary report of the OIC Mission for Afghanistan headed by Ambassador Ahmet Engin Ansay, says a press release.

The mission has just completed its first phase of tour of Afghanistan in an effort to arrange peace talks between the warring factions of the country.

The tour had taken Ambassador Ansay and his delegation to Jalalabad, Kabul and Herat where he met with Sheikh Yunus Khalis, President Rabbani, Commander Ahmed Shah Masoud and other leaders of the coalition government and to Qandahar where he met while the leadership of the Taliban movement and its Shura.

The last leg of Ambassador Ansay's tour took him to Mazar Sharif where he was received by General Dostum.

Earlier, Ambassador Ansay had held discussions with some leaders of the Supreme Coordination Council of Afghanistan who reside in Islamabad.

The OIC, which has been concerned with the Afghan issue since the Jehad period, recently reinforced its Islamabad Mission for Afghanistan and brought its Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Ambassador Ansay to conduct the affairs of the present special mission.

Unlike other peace initiatives for Afghanistan, the OIC initiaitve does not provide for a pre-arranged agenda for the initial peace talks.

It provides for a preparatory meeting of the representatives of both the coalition government and the Supreme Coordination Council of Afghanistan in addition to some selected Afghan independent personalities to meet at an agreed time in Jeddah. The aims to discuss and, hopefully, agree on an agenda for peace and the modalities of its implementation.-APP