|
Pressure builds within UN for return to Iraq
Pressure is building within the United Nations for the gradual return of expatriate relief staff to Iraq to organise aid despite the ongoing violence there, officials said Wednesday. The UN refugee agency is in the course of boosting its permanent presence in Iraq to two people, including one in Baghdad, while the UN's humanitarian coordination office last week gained approval for a strategic plan outlining a return to Iraq, aid chiefs said.
"UNHCR has already decided to upgrade our presence in Iraq. We will have an international presence in Baghdad. And we will increase our operations in the country," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said after a two-day conference on Iraq's displacement crisis."We know there are difficulties, there are security concerns, but there are things we can do and it's time to do our best to take profit of all opportunities to help really the people in distress," he told journalists. John Holmes, the world body's new Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, told the meeting Tuesday: "We cannot afford to look away and duck our responsibilities. I can assure you that the UN system will certainly not do so." Currently the United Nations has a security ceiling on the number of staff located in Iraq following the deadly truck bomb attack on the world body's headquarters in Baghdad in 2003 which prompted a pull out from the country. Most operations by international agencies are conducted by remote control, mainly from neighbouring Jordan. Relief is currently delivered by local Iraqi staff or subcontracted local agencies which know how to navigate the sectarian divide and negotiate with tribal elders, often at huge risk, aid workers said. Posted by: Pappy 2007-04-19 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=186173 |