From our correspondent
Enrico Piovesana 

 

It wasn't the difficulty to find a flight that postponed the transfer of Mastrogiacomo to Kabul, but the worrying events that occurred on Tuesday 20 in Lashkar-Gah, where the italian journalist has spent his first night as a free man, hosted by Emergency international staff.

At 6 in the morning, the 35 year-old Rahmatullah Hanefi, chief of the afghan staff and security manager of Emergency hospital in Lashkar-Gah, a key figure in the negotiation that led to the release of the italian journalist, reaches the staff house of Emergency to discuss with Gino Strada the terms of Mastrogiacomo's transfer to Kabul. While he was going out, Rahmat - as he is known by everyone - found the agents of the afghan intelligence. They loaded him in the car and took him away. From the national security building somebody makes a phone call to Gino Strada and tells him that Rahmat is being held by the secret services. "It should have been a day of joy and easiness" says the italian surgeon, while rushing to the National Security building to protest, demand an explanation and call for the immediate release of his manager, whithout whose work Daniele would be still in the hands of the Taleban. As a matter of fact, the negotiation with mullah Dadullah has been possible only thanks to his work on the phone as a go-between.

"It's grotesque and provocatory - says Strada, furious - that he who most contributed to Daniele's release is now being held by the afghan government. Rahmatullah's sole fault is that he offered himself to save the lives of two people. If this is a crime, then he is guilty. But I am too". But there was nothing to do: the afghan authorities refused to release Hanefi.

Gino Strada calls, for the umpteenth time these days, the italian ambassador in Kabul, Ettore Sequi. The latter immediately contacts the high ranks of the Afghan secret services. "They explained me - Sequi tells Strada - that it's a normal procedure to hear a person informed on the matter in the context of the investigation carried out by the afghan government on Mastrogiacomo's case. They assure Hanefi will be released soon. They added - says the ambassador - that for the same reason the Italian journalist will be heard when he's back in Italy".
Normal procedure, they say: not arrest, not detention; just a simple request for a testimony. Less normal appears to be the modality chosen - picked up at dawn in the middle of the street and prolongued detention right in the middle of a delicate stage of Mastrogiacomo's transfer to Kabul.

After some time, Strada and other members of the italian Ngo, on the way home from the umpteenth 'diplomatic mission' of these days, find a bunch of people in front of Emergency staff home. It's the locals, among whom there are the relatives of Sayed Agha, the afghan driver of Mastrogiacomo who had his throat slit by the Taleban on friday, right in front of the journalist and of Adjmal Nashkbandi, the interpreter whos track is lost.
 
"There were about a hundred people. Initially they were calm, they only wanted to have some information, from Mastrogiacomo, of Adjmal and Sayed, as if they didn't believed he'd been killed - says Luca, Emergency logistician in Lashkar-Gah - then the situation started to become tense, they began to throw stuff towards the house and someone has also tried to jump over the wall. During this mess, the afghan police not only stood still, but they were laughing". Then everything calmed down and, the following day, the family off sayed Agha called Emergency to apologize for the mess: "We were not angry with you, we just wanted to gather informations about our relative".

 

When everything calmed down, Gino Strada had to put aside the matter of his manager and friend to concentrate on how to bring Daniele to Kabul, as the usual companies that fly from Lashkar-Gah to Kabul, Pactec and the United Nations, didn'want to have anything to do with this story, not even to take Daniele on board. The problem was solved after lungh, thanks to the collaboration of the Italian government, that gave Emergency one of its airplanes.
Strada, Mastrogiacomo and other people from Emergency departed from Lashkar-Gah in the afternoon, landing in Kabul at around 7 p.m. Here, everybody was waiting for a press conference of Gino, Daniele and the italian ambassador Sequi, at Emergency hospital in Kabul. But Daniele, as soon as he put his foot out of the plane, was taken by the italian intelligence. He was put on a 'Falcon' governmental plane Rome-bound. The magistrates that investigate on his kidnapping, together with Daniele's wife, have put a lot of pressure to have him back home as soon as possible.

Gino Strada is back to his hospital. He is dead tired and voiceless. "When Daniele left Kabul, the italian Prime minister Romano Prodi called me. After thanking Emergency once again, he assured me the italian government will do everything to obtain Rahmat's release from the afghan government. Rahmat must be freed at once, there's no reason to hold him. I'll do everything I can to bring him home" says the surgeon, his voice turned to a whisper. "I'll do everything also to find out what was of Adjmal, Daniele's interpreter, who's been freed but whose track was lost. Those who say that we took two different approaches are lying: we have always asked, since the beginning, to save the lives of all the people kidnapped. All lives have the same value".