UN fails to disarm rival Afghan factions in north
( 2002-09-22 10:29 ) (7 )

The United Nations in Afghanistan said on Thursday it had failed in an attempt to disarm two warring factions in a disputed northern town.

A UN spokesman said the situation in the town of Goosfandi in Sari Pul province had proven "much more complex" than expected since U.N officials brokered a truce between the faction of Uzbek warlord General Abdur Rashid Dostum and Ustad Atta's Jamiat-e-Islami.

"The parties are still working...to find a mutually acceptable solution," Manoel de Almeida e Silva told a news briefing.

But he said a U.N team sent to the area at the weekend from the key northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to supervise the disarmament was now returning.

A clash between the factions based on an old feud claimed at least eight lives earlier this month in Goosfandi.

The UN subsequently brokered a ceasefire under which bodies of dead fighters were recovered and prisoners swapped.

Several dozen fighters and civilians have been killed in territorial clashes between Dostum and Atta's men in the past three months.

Some Western aid agencies have halted operations in the region over security concerns and the United Nations has warned that small flareups like that in Goosfandi could lead to wider fighting.