DATE=4/15/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=AFGHANISTAN / LOYA JIRGA - L-ONLY

NUMBER=2-288718

BYLINE=ALISHA RYU

DATELINE=KABUL

INTERNET=

CONTENT=

VOICED AT=

INTRO: Afghanistan is about to enter the first phase of selecting a new

transitional government through a traditional grand council meeting called

the "Loya Jirga." V-O-A's Alisha Ryu has details about what will take place

leading up to the Loya Jirga - to be held mid-June in the capital, Kabul.

TEXT: Tuesday will mark the second-to-the-last step in Afghanistan's

efforts to become a democratic nation.

Several hundred tribal elders in Modrian village - in Jowzjan Province in

northern Afghanistan - will meet to pick the country's very first local

district delegation for a larger regional meeting that begins in late May.

A similar selection process will then take place in 380 other districts

throughout Afghanistan - supervised by the United Nations and international

monitors.

Each district then will send a delegation to one of nine, two-week

regional meetings - designed to narrow down the list of people who will

actually participate in the Loya Jirga. The Loya Jirga will determine who

will lead Afghanistan until democratic national elections can be held.

Only one thousand-51 Afghans will be selected to attend the grand council

meeting. According to the post-Taleban plans for Afghanistan created during

meetings in Bonn, Germany, last December, representatives must include

members from every ethnic group, as well as women. Four hundred-50 other

seats will be reserved for various Afghan institutions and government

agencies.

The countdown to the Loya Jirga is also expected to sharpen the many splits

in Afghan society. The current government - a six-month administration led

by Hamid Karzai - expires on June 22nd. Mr. Karzai - an ethnic Pashtun -

has the backing of the United States and other Western nations. But ethnic

Tajiks - who fought with the U-S military to oust the Taleban and now hold

three key positions in the interim administration - supports the

last-recognized president of Afghanistan, Burnahuddin Rabbani.

The head of the U-N group monitoring the Loya Jirga process, Anders Fange

(PRONO: feng'-eh), acknowledges that bribes, threats and outright violence

may mar the entire process. He says the international community should

refrain from having unrealistic expectations.

/// FANGE ACTUALITY ///

It's not a matter here of with one snap of your fingers creating a

democratic paradise for Afghanistan. This Loya Jirga, if it comes out good,

will be one step in the peace process.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

The Loya Jirga is a centuries-old system of reaching important decisions in

Afghanistan's tribal society. The last one was in 1987, when there was a

Soviet-backed government. (Signed)

NEB / AR / WD