KHOST: "Vote for President Hamid Karzai, or we will burn your houses down" - that is the message a Pashtun tribe has broadcast on radio a fortnight ahead of Afghanistan's first presidential elections.

The threat, broadcast by the Terezay tribe in southeast Afghanistan's Khost province, competes with conflicting threats from Taliban insurgents roaming the border region who have vowed to kill people who take part in the vote.

Elders of the Terezay tribe, part of the Pashtun ethnic group to which Karzai belongs, called on fellow tribal members to support the incumbent and threatened arson if they voted for one of his 17 rivals.

"All the Terezay tribes' people should vote for Hamid Karzi ... if anyone from Terezay tribe votes for other candidates, the tribe will burn their houses," said the statement, broadcast live on local radio.

Meanwhile "night letters" distributed by loyalists of the ousted Taliban rulers threaten to kill all of the 18 candidates and anyone who supports the October 9 election.

In a tape of the Terezay tribe's broadcast, obtained by AFP, the elders urged male and female members of the tribe to throw their support behind Karzai. "All of Terezay tribe people, including males and females, have to vote for Hamid Karzai, because he is the only suitable person for the presidential post," it said.

Some 120,000 to 150,000 Terezays are scattered throughout the mountains of southern and eastern Afghanistan. Terezay elder Wakil Said Anwar, 55, said the threatening statement was jointly drafted by 300 tribal chiefs.

"We will back Karzai at the vote. No one from our tribe should ignore the decision," he said. Afghanistan's UN-backed electoral commission condemned the tribe's call and said the elections should be free and fair.

Spokesman Sayed Mohammad Azam said the elections should be secret and people should not be forced to take part. "It's the right of each Afghan citizen whether to take part in the election or not, and which particular candidates he or she should vote for," Azam said.

Hamid Elmi, Karzai's campaign spokesman, urged his supporters to respect voters' freedom, but stopped short of condemning the Terezay broadcast. -AFP