NGO says conference built walls around itself

A major international donor meeting on reconstructing Afghanistan, which wrapped up in Tokyo on Tuesday, should have been more transparent and accessible to nongovernmental organizations and the news media, the leader of a Japanese NGO said.

Kensuke Onishi, supervisor of Peace Winds Japan and head of Japan Platform, smiles as he receives a registration card allowing him to attend the final session of the two-day Afghan reconstruction conference.

Along with three of his colleagues, Kensuke Onishi, overall supervisor of Peace Winds Japan and head of Japan Platform, was temporarily barred from the two-day gathering by the Foreign Ministry, which claimed the NGOs were "antigovernment."

Ministry officials later blamed space constraints in cutting off the groups.

But Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka told her staff to allow the four to at least attend the final day, saying, "Without the activities of NGOs, (reconstruction) efforts like this will not move forward."

Tanaka told reporters that Vice Foreign Minister Yoshiji Nogami resisted carrying out her instructions at first, saying it was complicated to do so because it also involved a "politician."

A major daily newspaper quoted Onishi as saying last week he does not trust "the authorities" very much, angering an influential politician in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Onishi said he welcomed being allowed to attend the final day's events but is not satisfied with the limited access to the conference at a Tokyo hotel.

He said, however, he is still willing to cooperate with the government in supporting the reconstruction process of the war-ravaged country.

"It is necessary to put aside the recent turmoil (between NGOs and the government) so that we can fully assist the people of Afghanistan," he said.

While organizers of the ministerial meeting hailed its pledge achievements, they faced mounting criticism that most of the forum was closed to the press and that NGO workers were only let in as observers.

Active in Afghanistan, Japan Platform is a Tokyo-based aid organization set up in 2000 by NGOs, the Foreign Ministry and the business sector. The PWJ is also involved.