Warring factions in northern Afghanistan have agreed to a ceasefire after six people were killed in a flare-up in violence in the volatile region, a UN official said today.
Forces of ethnic Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum and ethnic Tajik commander Ustad Atta Mohammad agreed to stop fighting in the Sholgara district of Balkh province after a multi-party peace commission and UN officials intervened.
"The multi-party security commission of the north negotiated a ceasefire between the two factions," UN spokesman Mr Manoel de Almeida e Silva told reporters. Six people, one a civilian, had been killed in the Thursday fighting, he said.
UN officials met commanders from both sides who said they would stop fighting in the district, the spokesman said. The district was calm but tense and unpredictable, he added. Fighters from the two factions, both of whose leaders are members of the transitional government, have clashed repeatedly in the north since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. Several truces have collapsed.
Much of Afghanistan is under the control of warlords and provincial militia commanders despite efforts by the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai to impose its authority.