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UN official fired over Iraq security flaws
Well, my breath is taken away...UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan rejected his deputyâs offer to resign but fired his security chief on Monday after a blistering report on security missteps before last yearâs deadly bombing of UN offices in Baghdad. Annan asked for the resignation of security chief Tun Myat of Myanmar after the report concluded Myat âappeared oblivious to the developing crisisâ in Baghdad before the Aug. 19 bombing, which killed 22 people including mission chief Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN chief spokesman Fred Eckhard told a news conference. But Annan rejected a resignation offer by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, a Canadian who chaired the UN Steering Group on Iraq when the world body decided last May that its senior staff could return to work after the US-led invasion in March. Frechette tendered her resignation after Annan sent her a letter âexpressing his disappointment and regretâ with regard to the security failures identified by the panel, Eckhard said. âThe secretary-general, taking into account the collective nature of the failures attributable to the Steering Group on Iraq as a whole, declined to accept the resignation,â Eckhard said. The August bombing led to the withdrawal of all UN international staff from Iraq. International staff have still not returned to Iraq, apart from small teams recently sent in to advise the authorities in Baghdad on the shift to a transitional Iraqi government, expected by June 30. In its report, the outside panel concluded that UN Security officials âappeared to be blinded by the conviction that UN personnel and installations would not become a target of attack, despite the clear warnings to the contrary.â Posted by: Fred 2004-03-29 |
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