American President Barack Obama has phoned the aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières to apologize for the accidental killing of 22 people in a US airstrike in Afghanistan.
American military bombed the agency's hospital in Kunduz on Saturday.
The phone conversation happened just a few hours after Médecins Sans Frontières called for a special body to investigate.
The charity says, most importantly, it now wants to find out if war crimes were committed.
Nick Harper reports from New York.
IN: "Five days.....
OUT: SOC
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NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-von.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-ziz.mp3
TAKE VO
Five days after the U.S. attack that left 12 of his colleagues dead, Médecins Sans Frontières' Executive Director Jason Cone faced the world's media to demand an independent inquiry.
SOT - Jason Cone, U.S. Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières
"The point of calling of this commission is really to establish the facts and whether to understand if in fact a grave violation of international humanitarian law has taken place and whether of not it amounts to a war crime. That's our main focus right now."
TAKE VO
Cone wants the inquiry carried out by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission, a never-before used investigation team.
SOT - Jason Cone, U.S. Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières
"This commission does not investigate for criminal prosecutions or human rights violations. It is designed purely for humanitarian law. Although this body has existed since 1991 the omission has not yet been used. Governments until now have never activated the commission. The tool exists and it is time to activate it for this purpose."
TAKE VO
Just hours after the press conference US President Barak Obama phoned the charity's president, Joanne Liu to apologize. He told he the US investigation would "provide a transparent, thorough and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident". He also promised to implement changes to ensure this sort of thing did not happen in the future.
TAKE VO
22 people died when this hospital in Kunduz was hit by a sustained American airstrike. Afghan forces fighting in the area asked for support to repel Taliban fighters who took the town last week.
MSF maintains it had previously given the coordinates of the hospital to the Afghan and Coalition forces, and the aerial assault continued for thirty minutes after they told the military they were targeting a hospital.
TAKE VO
The US commander of international forces in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, told the Senate Armed Services Committee the strike had been a mistake.
SOT - General John Campbell, US Commander of International Forces in Afghanistan
"To be clear, the decision to provide aerial fires was a U.S. decision made within the U.S. chain of command. A hospital was mistakenly struck. We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility."
TAKE VO
But, mistake or not, Médecins Sans Frontières wants honest answers to ensure its doctors don't again get killed while doing their job.
TAKE VO
And they feel the only way to achieve that is through this independent investigation. The U.S., NATO and the Afghans have ordered their own internal inquiries, yet Médecins Sans Frontières does not believe these findings will be completely impartial.
However, for this new commission to proceed both the U.S. and Afghanistan need to approve it. And that may be difficult.
SOC
IN: "Five days.....
OUT: SOC
DUR: 2.47
AIR: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-air.mp3
ARN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-arn.mp3
FM4: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-fm4.mp3
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-gen.mp3
ICRT: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-icrt.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-rnz.mp3
VATICAN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-vat.mp3
NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-von.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1007msf-nh-ziz.mp3
TAKE VO
Five days after the U.S. attack that left 12 of his colleagues dead, Médecins Sans Frontières' Executive Director Jason Cone faced the world's media to demand an independent inquiry.
SOT - Jason Cone, U.S. Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières
"The point of calling of this commission is really to establish the facts and whether to understand if in fact a grave violation of international humanitarian law has taken place and whether of not it amounts to a war crime. That's our main focus right now."
TAKE VO
Cone wants the inquiry carried out by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission, a never-before used investigation team.
SOT - Jason Cone, U.S. Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières
"This commission does not investigate for criminal prosecutions or human rights violations. It is designed purely for humanitarian law. Although this body has existed since 1991 the omission has not yet been used. Governments until now have never activated the commission. The tool exists and it is time to activate it for this purpose."
TAKE VO
Just hours after the press conference US President Barak Obama phoned the charity's president, Joanne Liu to apologize. He told he the US investigation would "provide a transparent, thorough and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident". He also promised to implement changes to ensure this sort of thing did not happen in the future.
TAKE VO
22 people died when this hospital in Kunduz was hit by a sustained American airstrike. Afghan forces fighting in the area asked for support to repel Taliban fighters who took the town last week.
MSF maintains it had previously given the coordinates of the hospital to the Afghan and Coalition forces, and the aerial assault continued for thirty minutes after they told the military they were targeting a hospital.
TAKE VO
The US commander of international forces in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, told the Senate Armed Services Committee the strike had been a mistake.
SOT - General John Campbell, US Commander of International Forces in Afghanistan
"To be clear, the decision to provide aerial fires was a U.S. decision made within the U.S. chain of command. A hospital was mistakenly struck. We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility."
TAKE VO
But, mistake or not, Médecins Sans Frontières wants honest answers to ensure its doctors don't again get killed while doing their job.
TAKE VO
And they feel the only way to achieve that is through this independent investigation. The U.S., NATO and the Afghans have ordered their own internal inquiries, yet Médecins Sans Frontières does not believe these findings will be completely impartial.
However, for this new commission to proceed both the U.S. and Afghanistan need to approve it. And that may be difficult.
SOC
ENDS