Interview with Ross Mountain, UN Secretary-General's Acting Special Representative for Iraq

Ross Mountain has begun work as the UN Secretary-General's Acting Special Representative for Iraq. He was formerly the UN's Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator and Director of the Geneva Office of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In an interview with IRIN from the Jordanian capital, Amman, Mountain spoke of the important humanitarian role local UN staff continue to play in Iraq and the intensive UN planning underway in Jordan and Cyprus for Iraqi reconstruction. QUESTION: What do you see as your biggest challenge in Iraq? ANSWER: Unfortunately, I think our first challenge is getting over the security problems that have caused the Secretary General to withdraw [UN] international staff. We have, as you may know, a very substantial presence of national staff in Iraq, over 1,000, but we are see seeking ways that we can support those staff, expand our programmes and begin a return of international staff, but this would be security permitting. Q: How is the UN going to continue operating humanitarian activities from Cyprus and Jordan? A: We do have a very substantial number of staff in the country. We are in contact with them. We are developing a strategic plan essentially for reconstruction activities that also relates to the humanitarian field and we are going to try and apply some innovative ways to expanding the work we are already doing in the country. Q: How can the UN contribute to improving security and promoting peace and national unity in Iraq? A: What I think we can do over time is work on the aspect of institution building. There is an anticipation that the United Nations will be much more heavily involved in that dimension of the challenges in Iraq, following the return of sovereignty and the installation of the transitional government, which is, as you know, foreseen for the beginning of July. It is anticipated at that stage that government will seek the support of the UN in institution building, dealing with issues such as the constitution and the elections seen to take place by the end of 2005. I would certainly hope that this would be a major contribution in supporting Iraqi authorities and the people in that direction. Q: What sort of humanitarian work is the UN carrying out in Iraq under the current circumstances? A: There are a whole range of UN agencies working together inside. The kind of activities range through delivering drinking water, delivering medical supplies, providing fertiliser and seeds, rehabilitating water treatment plants and pumping stations and power supply stations. In addition to that there are a range of other things in terms of capacity building. But it should also be remembered that we are continuing to support the ration system and expect to be a very important player in ensuring that 2.3 million tonnes of food be delivered by the middle of this year. Nutritional support is also another part, including high energy biscuits for primary schools and kindergartens and refugees returns too. So there are quite a range, and this involves the key UN agencies, the World Food Programme, UNICEF, WHO, UNHCR, UNDP, FAO, to name the key ones. Q: How are national staff continuing to operate in Iraq ? A: With difficulty, I think is the answer. There are very few who are able to use our offices. There are some who are working from home and often on project sites. This has not been easy and we certainly want to provide them with additional support, so that they can contribute, but contribute they do. The United Nations is certainly not withdrawn from Iraq and more over it is very much our commitment now to seeking to expand our involvements and as we can again, security permitting. Permit me if you will to say a few words on the security side because perhaps this gets misunderstood. The United Nations operates in difficult security environments as a matter of routine. The Iraq situation is somewhat different. I don't need to dwell on the tragedy that we faced losing 22 of our colleagues including my good friend and predecessor, Sergio Veira de Mello. That was not the first and I fear it won't be the last time that humanitarians lose their lives in the course of doing their job. What has been unique about Iraq is that the United Nations, it would appear, and what seems to be a consensus on this, has been targeted by a number of groups, small though they may be, and that puts us at particular risk. We are seen as a soft target and we are not unique amongst humanitarians, there are others, if you recall the attack on the ICRC premises last year as well. So we have a particular problem there and that's what we're having to deal with as we are committed to strengthen our presence and re-establish ourselves more largely in Iraq. Again Iraq is not just Baghdad, it's also Basra and Arbil and of course we'll be seeing how we can strengthen our involvement there as well. Q: Washington has had an ambiguous relationship with the UN over Iraq. Through your work will you be making the case for a more significant role for the UN there, something many Iraqi groups, as well as major donor countries have called for? A: I think we were all pleased that in the meeting with the Secretary General on the 19 January in New York, when the Governing Council and the senior people from the CPA came to meet with him, the emphasis was very clearly placed on the importance of the role the United Nations could play and the independent role of the United Nations. I think that we are looking ahead. I mentioned earlier that it is widely accepted that we will play a very much more significant role in the political dimension with the establishment of a transitional government, post the hand over of sovereignty. Having said that, the role that the UN has been playing in the humanitarian field must not be forgotten and indeed the role we are now involved in - putting together a strategic plan for the reconstruction of supporting the Iraqi authorities and people is also very significant. Not much is said about that, we have approximately 200 staff here in Amman from all the different United Nations agencies who are working together and interacting with Iraqi counterparts and are in contact with the World Bank and donors, putting together a plan and seeking the means for implementing this plan as we speak. This work has progressed very much and I think we will be playing a very significant role in the future. Q: How should the UN system be communicating with Iraqis about its role and mission, given the somewhat negative image it has among many Iraqis, due to the sanctions? A: I certainly agree that we need to make better known to the Iraqi population at large, the nature of the work the United Nations is doing. That is something we have done more of before and something we need to do more of in the future. This is not just public information campaigns, it's also through interacting with our non-governmental partners, both national and international, through key opinion leaders so that they understand a bit better that in fact Iraq was a founder member of the United Nations and a very important member of the United Nations and the principles we stand for and the activities that we seek to carry out for the population in the country.