Staff vote against plans to increase presence (UN)

[cal04]

The UN security council is set to agree a resolution today to expand its role in Iraq despite overwhelming opposition from its staff.

Although the organization often goes into extremely dangerous situations, the UN staff association, which represents 6,000 people in New York and 18,000 involved in peacekeeping and other operations overseas, voted unanimously on Tuesday against deployment in Iraq because of the high risks. It also called for the removal of existing staff. The UN insisted yesterday that it can go ahead in spite of staff opposition and would be able to find people to fill the new posts.

The US president, George Bush, is pressing the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to beef up the UN operation in Iraq, which it scaled back in 2003 after a bomb killed its envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 other staff at its Baghdad headquarters.

The security council resolution will widen the UN role to cover a range of issues from border security to political reconciliation and rehabilitation of former combatants. Although not mentioned in the text, it will open the way for an increase in its Iraq staff complement from 65 to 95 by October. The security council is also seeking $130m (£65m) to build a fortified compound in Baghdad. The US has offered to help with the costs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2144697,00.html