Switzerland protests US strikes on aid stores in Afghanistan

Joseph Deiss and Jakob Kellenberger both condemn the US bombing on Red Cross warehouses Keystone

The Swiss foreign minister, Joseph Deiss, has condemned the bombing of Red Cross warehouses in Afghanistan by United States planes.

Deiss told reporters on Friday that he had protested to Washington over the mistaken strikes that demolished the International Committee of the Red Cross’ (ICRC) supply facilities in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

“The ICRC must be protected in the future from such accidents,” Deiss said.

His comments came after the Swiss head of the ICRC, Jakob Kellenberger, called the strikes an infringement of human rights.

“We deplore the bombardment of the ICRC warehouses, which was a violation of international rights,” said Kellenberger. He said he wanted an explanation from the Americans.

The targeting of the warehouses last week was the second time ICRC facilities had been hit by US warplanes since the start of US military operations on October 7.

Kellenberger stressed the raids had had a dramatic impact on the Red Cross humanitarian work in Afghanistan.

Compounding problems

“The bombing has greatly hindered the distribution of food from our sites in Afghanistan,” said Kellenberger, adding that the absence of aid workers in the country made the work doubly difficult.

He added that despite these difficulties, the organisation had recently succeeded in distributing aid to 30,000 people in Kabul and in the northern town of Mazar-I-Sharif.

swissinfo with agencies