Pinay UN poll volunteer killed in Kabul attack

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipina election volunteer was among the five UN workers killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan, the Philippine Mission to the United Nations confirmed yesterday.

Philippine Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Hilario Davide said 40-year-old Jossie Esto, an election training coordinator with the UN Volunteers Program, was among those killed during an attack by Taliban insurgents in Kabul last Wednesday.

Davide issued a report to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo saying Taliban gunmen stormed a guesthouse where Esto and other UN staff were staying at the Bekhtar Guest House in Kabul’s Shar-e-Now District, spraying the hotel with gunfire and detonating grenades before killing themselves.

Several UN workers were also injured in the dawn attack by three Taliban militants donning suicide vests, grenades and machine guns.

Esto was a former schoolteacher who also worked as an election and civic education officer in the Philippines before serving as a UN volunteer in Liberia, Timor-Leste and Nepal. She was married with two children aged 14 and 11.

Davide said Esto is the fourth UN worker from the Philippines to die in terrorist attacks targeting the world body.

In 2003, Ranillo Buenaventura, a staff member of the UN Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, was killed in the suicide car bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

Last year, Gene Luna, a staff member of the World Food Program, was among those killed during an attack at UN offices in Algiers, Algeria.

Perseveranda So, a staff member of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), was also killed during a suicide bomb attack on a hotel housing international workers in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Esto’s death came five years after Angelito Nayan, a Filipino UN volunteer assisting in the 2004 Afghan elections, was kidnapped in Kabul and held for three weeks by the Taliban before he was released.

Esto had been in Afghanistan for just over a year and was among several UN volunteers working with the United Nations Development Program/Enhancing Legal and Electoral Capacity for Tomorrow (UNDP/ELECT) Project, the primary vehicle through which the international community supports elections in Afghanistan.

UN Volunteers Program Executive Coordinator Flavia Pansieri expressed condolences on behalf of the organization’s 8,000 volunteers and staff to the families of Esto and Yah-Lydia Wonyene of Liberia, another UN volunteer who was also killed in the attack. 

“Jossie and Lydia dedicated their knowledge and experience as volunteers to support the people of Afghanistan,” Pansieri said.

“As volunteers, they demonstrated a true commitment to the cause of peace and development and their sacrifice will not be forgotten,” she said.

The Philippine government condemned the terrorist attack perpetuated against UN personnel in Kabul.

“The Filipino nation joins her bereaved family and friends in mourning the loss of Ms. Esto, a wife and mother of two children and a dedicated worker for peace. Ms. Esto was an electoral and civic education officer in the Philippines before becoming a UN volunteer in Liberia, Timor-Leste and Nepal,” the DFA said in a statement.

The Philippines called on the international community to condemn the attack and band together to improve the protection of civilians, particularly UN personnel and aid workers risking their lives in the course of their duties.

“The Philippines remains a stalwart supporter of the United Nations as it strives to build peace, promote development and provide emergency and humanitarian assistance around the world. The country takes deep pride in all Filipinos serving in the United Nations as officials, peacekeepers, specialists, staff members and volunteers wherever they may be,” the DFA said.

The attack that killed five UN workers has drawn widespread condemnation from top officials, as well as a pledge that the world body will continue its vital work in the country.

“This is a very dark day for the UN in Afghanistan,” said Kai Eide, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN mission in the country (UNAMA).

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced his outrage at the “cowardly attack” and conveyed his deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the despicable and brutal killing, for which the Taliban has claimed responsibility in an apparent effort to disrupt the second round of the presidential election,” he said.

Afghans are scheduled to go to the polls on Nov. 7 for the run-off between incumbent President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah.

The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) found evidence of fraud in the first round of voting last August.