| Posted by fluffy ® , Sep 26,2003,10:28 | MetroBlab |
The United Nations decided yesterday to withdraw almost all of its remaining international personnel from Iraq within 48 hours because of fears for their safety, undermining claims by the United States that coalition forces are making headway towards curbing the violence in the country.
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, had been agonising over the safety of his staff in Iraq since the explosion at the UN headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August which killed 22 people, including his own personal envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello. A second car bomb exploded near the compound on Monday, killing a security guard.
"This is not an evacuation, it's just a further downsizing," insisted Fred Eckhard, a spokesman for Mr Annan. He made it clear, however, that only a symbolic handful of the UN's core staff would remain in Iraq. All the others will be transferred to Amman in Jordan.
The news came on the same day that Vladimir Putin declared in his address to the General Assembly that the UN should be granted "direct participation" in the rebuilding of Iraq. Several world leaders have made the same appeal in New York this week.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=447068