UN rights boss Arbour condemns Afghan amnesty

PARIS, Feb 7 (Reuters) UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has criticised Afghanistan's parliament for granting immunity to all Afghans involved in the country's 25 years of war.

In an interview with Le Monde newspaper, published today, Arbour said the parliament should have waited and not rushed into the amnesty.

''They are letting people who have committed atrocities hold on to power,'' Arbour was quoted as saying. ''An amnesty is permanent. There is no going back on it.'' The immunity bill was approved by Afghanistan's lower house last week. It covers fugitive Taliban leaders as well as some members of parliament and senior government officials who are accused of abuses during a quarter century of fighting, including during the 1980s Soviet war and battles between rival warlords.

The national assembly said the move would help reconciliation in a nation shattered by years of war and civil strife that have left almost no family untouched by tragedy.

But Arbour said an amnesty was not the answer.

''The minimum would be to maintain room for justice and not grant any amnesty,'' she said, adding that if trials had risked making the situation worse in Afghanistan, the authorities should have bided their time and continued their investigations.

''Don't forgive anything without establishing the facts,'' she said.

REUTERS AB HS1801