15 December 2004
United Nations to Expand Operations in Iraq
Offices will open in Erbil, Basra early in 2005
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan intends to increase the number of U.N. personnel in Iraq soon after January 1, 2005, the United Nations announced December 15.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said the United Nations would not only increase the number of personnel in the country but open offices in the cities of Erbil and Basra.
"Stressing the high importance he attaches to the provision of essential security protection for the staff concerned, he has given instruction that the first steps to be taken are to assess the security conditions to establish UNAMI (U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq) presence in Basra and in Erbil as soon as practicable," Eckhard said.
The Unite Nations currently has about 59 staff members in Iraq, including 20 election experts, all based in Baghdad, but that number "is not adequate for what we want to do," the spokesman said.
Some 150 troops from Fiji are completing training and will be deployed soon to provide "close protection" for U.N. staff and facilities, Eckhard also announced.
The first step in the expansion will be to deploy a small liaison detachment of about four persons -- military, security, and support -- in each location to assess and prepare appropriate and secure living and working conditions, the spokesman said. Thereafter, depending on the circumstances, perhaps four or five staff members will be deployed to assist and work with local authorities and local nongovernmental organizations in the area.
The liaison detachments are expected to be deployed early in 2005, Eckhard said.
U.S. Ambassador John Danforth welcomed the announcement.
"Washington was hoping for the expansion of the U.N. presence in Iraq," the ambassador said. "And we think that expansion is positive. . . . This is something we've been attempting to encourage."
"Under the resolution the (U.N. Security) Council passed last June, the U.N. is to play the leading role with respect to Iraq, so it's very important to encourage the U.N. to be present," Danforth told reporters after a private meeting with the secretary-general.
On December 13, Iraqi Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie complained to the Security Council that the current number of U.N. staff members is inadequate.
"In the limited time we have left before elections, it is critical for the U.N. to bolster its presence and intensify its activities in Iraq," the ambassador said.
"The phrase 'as circumstances permit' should not become a mantra, repeated to justify insufficient presence on the ground in Iraq," Sumaida'ie said of the United Nations' criteria for sending staff to Iraq.
"There is a dearth of U.N. workers even in northern and southern Iraq, despite relative peace and stability there," he said. Those are areas "in which progress should be possible quite quickly," he said.
"We believe that, not only elections preparations, but the vital humanitarian and developmental work can be greatly enhanced through direct contacts in Iraq between U.N. officials and their counterparts in the IIG (Iraqi Interim Government) and the provinces," the Iraqi envoy said.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=December&x=20041215181912liameruoy0.3300287&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html
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