Two thirds of UN staff in Baghdad staying on to continue mission21 August – Although some United Nations staff are leaving Iraq for medical treatment or stress counselling following Tuesday's deadly terrorist attack, two thirds of the more than 300 employees are staying in the country, determined to carry on with their work, the acting head of UN operations in Baghdad said today.
More staff will be rotated into the country as others leave, and although administrative support may now be handled outside Baghdad, the core work that the UN is doing in Iraq will continue, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, told a news briefing. Staff numbers will be at about 200 as of the weekend, he said.
Mr. Lopes da Silva is acting head following the death of Sergio Vieira de Mello, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Iraq.
Asked about security concerns, Mr. Lopes da Silva said the UN was an open organization and could not be divided from the people that it served, entailing a certain level of vulnerability. He said that he was unaware of any exchange, however, about any UN refusal to accept a stronger United States security presence.
Mr. Annan said yesterday he, too, did not know of such a refusal but if the UN did turn down the offer "it was not correct, and they should not have been allowed to turn it down."
As of noon today the death toll from attack had reached 22, the UN Security Coordinator's Office said. Eighteen bodies have been identified, including 10 UN international and five national staff. Two other bodies have not been identified, and another two people are missing and believed dead. An earlier death toll mentioned 23, but it was learned that one staff member who was believed dead was indeed alive and had made contact with her family.
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