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International meet to help decide fate of destroyed Afghan Buddhas

KABUL, Friday (AFP) The fate of the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan, ancient Afghan statues which were destroyed by the hardline Taliban regime, is to be discussed at an international conference in the country later this year.

The May 19-21 conference will discuss how to preserve Afghanistan's heritage but will focus on the site of the Buddhas, 200 kilometres (125 miles) northwest of Kabul, a spokesman for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) told AFP.

Badly ravaged by 23 years of conflict, Afghanistan's archaeological sites, particularly Bamiyan, have been badly hit by looters who have fuelled a rampant illegal trade in valuable artefacts.

UNESCO director Koichiro Matsuura is expected to take part in the meeting organised by the International Coordination Committee for the Safeguarding of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage.

Created in September 2002 under the the auspices of UNESCO and the Afghan government, the committee brings together international and Afghan archaeological and scientific experts.

Once the marvel of the ancient world, the two magnificent statues of Buddha dated back to the second or third century but were destroyed when the Taliban brought their ultra-Islamic campaign against human imagery to Bamiyan.

The militia provoked international outrage when they aimed rockets at the bare cliff face from which the 55 and 38 metre-high (182 and 125 foot) statues are hewn.

Carved in the style of the classic Buddhas of South Asia but clothed in Greek tunics, they represented a rare fusion between Indian classic art, Central Asian imagery and the Greek influence introduced to Afghanistan by the armies of Alexander the Great.

UNESCO Kabul spokesman Jim Williams said there was an urgent need to focus attention on Bamiyan since there was a danger of losing more valuable artefacts through further damage.

"The site is today threatened by the risk of the collapse of the cliffs which housed the Buddhas, in particular the niche of the smaller Buddha, the oldest of the two," he said.

Williams said a collapse could be triggered simply by footsteps near the site, a helicopter flying overhead or water infiltration in the cliffs.

"Our top priority today is to strengthen the cliff to prevent their collapse," Williams said.

He said work was underway to gather the remains of the statues on location at Bamiyan to examine them, but final decisions over whether to rebuild would remain with the Afghan government.

Although UNESCO was willing to help by providing detailed scientific photos of the statues before their destruction, Williams said the organisation was not in favour of reconstruction.

"Their destruction is part of the history. You cannot preserve something that doesn't exist any longer. Perhaps we can preserve their memory."

Since March 2002, UNESCO has paid for four expert missions to Bamiyan and is now working to get the valley listed as a World Heritage Site.

Afghanistan already has one World Heritage Site, the Minaret of Jam, a 1,000-year-old monument on the border of western Herat and Ghor provinces, but little else has been done to protect the country's vulnerable past.

Many sites dating back to prehistoric times, charting the presence of Alexander the Great, Buddhism, Islam, Mongols, Aryans and Moghuls, have been destroyed or looted.

On Thursday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a decree ordering extra protection against illegal excavations, but there are few resources available to police the sites. 

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