Afghan aid hospital reopens
Authorities guarantee 'complete autonomy'
29 July, 17:02
(ANSA) - Milan, July 29 - An Italian war-zone NGO's
hospital in Afghanistan reopened Thursday after being
closed down in April on suspicion of harbouring a bomb plot
against a local governor.Afghan authorities have said the facility will be able to work without interference, the NGO announced at its Milan office.
"The authorities have guaranteed complete autonomy and respect for our neutrality," Emergency officials said.
Gino Strada, the organisation's founder, said over the phone from Afghanistan that the Afghan government had apologised for the April incident and subsequent closure.
"We have received an official apology from the Afghan government for the events of April 10 and the authorities have said they are happy Emergency has come back," he said.
"Above all," he added, "it is the local people who want the hospital there".
During its three-month closure, Strada said, the hospital at Lashkar Gar in the war-torn and windswept Helmand province had been "covered with sand, but nothing was touched".
Emergency had also managed to get in touch with all the staff who had been working there, Strada said.
Strada, who believes the hospital was shut and three of its workers "framed" to stop the NGO reporting civilian casualties, had worked hard to gain assurances it would be left alone.
The facility at Lashkar Gar was closed after a raid by Afghan and British troops on April 10 in which arms and explosives were found.
Three Emergency workers - surgeon Marco Garatti, 40, nurse Matteo Dell'Aira, 30, and logistical technician Matteo Pagani Bonaiuti, 28 - were held for nine days before an Italian diplomatic push helped secure their release.
After an investigation, Afghanistan's National Security Directorate concluded they had nothing to do with the alleged plot to assassinate Helmand Governor Mohammed Gulab Mangal.
Strada has consistently claimed the bombs were planted to enable the removal of potentially "awkward" witnesses to the scale of civilian casualties in the area, where NATO launched a huge anti-Taliban offensive in February.
Strada also said Emergency was targeted because it treats all wounded combatants including the Taliban.
In the wake of Emergency's claims, Rome prosecutors opened a probe for "aggravated defamation on the part of person or persons unknown".
The probe is addressing accusations, later retracted, by Afghan security authorities.
