ICRC scales back as UN agencies proceed with caution

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is cutting back its operations in the capital, Baghdad, after being warned that it could also be targeted following last Tuesday's devastating blast at the UN's head office. The number of the ICRC's foreign staff in Baghdad is being reduced to about 50 as violence continues in many parts of the country. ICRC staff would be moved from Baghdad to offices in northern and southern Iraq, which were regarded as more secure, Nada Doumani, the ICRC's spokeswoman in Iraq, told IRIN. She pointed out that ICRC officials did not have armed guards or vehicles, so the amount of work that could be done in the current climate of insecurity was being reduced. "We're doing this as a temporary measure," said Doumani, who is staying. "Also, a colleague of ours was killed on 22 August, so that affects us. The security environment is very volatile. We have to take precautions." The ICRC has been playing a key role in Baghdad since the war started in March by supplying hospitals with medical equipment and drugs and helping families trace missing relatives. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has repeatedly pushed for increased security for United Nations operations in Iraq, meeting last Friday with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of the United Kingdom, main partner of the United States-led coalition running the occupied country. “Security obviously is of great concern to us and it’s also been part of our discussions this morning,” Annan said after the meeting at UN Headquarters in New York, a day after he discussed the issue with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Emphasising the responsibility of the United States-led coalition forces for helping to provide a safe environment for UN operations in Iraq, he said: “We have a team that is on its way to Baghdad now to assess the security situation. There is no doubt that we may, we will have to strengthen our security. We may have to adjust our ways of operating on the ground and we will also need to take a look at UN operations elsewhere in the world. “And of course we will need to work with the coalition that has a capacity and has a responsibility for law and order in Iraq to give us help,” he added. Asked whether the coalition had offered help, he replied: “They will help, yes.” Many nonessential UN staff members have been told to leave the country, following the bomb blast which killed Annan’s special representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and wounded 86 others, including Ramiro Lopes de Silva, the UN's humanitarian coordinator. Annan has repeatedly made clear his determination to continue the UN missions in Iraq and around the world vowing not to let terrorists dictate UN policy. "The option of withdrawing is not something we can consider," Annan told reporters before boarding his plane in Rio de Janeiro for New York on Sunday. He was in Rio to attend memorial services for Vieira de Mello. "The people of Iraq need us; they want us to stay. And the fanatics and the violent people who took Sergio and Nadia (Younes), Rick Hooper and other colleagues from us are not going to dictate what happens in Iraq," he said, referring to some of the other UN officials killed in Tuesday's blast. Khansa Hussein, a WFP spokeswoman, told IRIN that last week's tragic events would not stop the UN's food agency from bringing food into Iraq. WFP staff were relocating from the damaged UN headquarters to a regional office in another part of the Iraqi capital. Many others had left temporarily, including those injured and in shock, Hussein added, but they were scheduled to return. The pressure on UN and other humanitarian staff is growing from friends and family following the bombing. "My family is pushing me to resign, but I'm not going to do that," Hussein said, looking fatigued. "I lost two friends here, so what's done has already happened." Staff of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have similar feelings. No one wanted to leave, but their mobility might be curtailed for security reasons, said Geoffrey Keele, the UNICEF spokesman. Security would be tightened, he noted. "We've been working in the areas of water and sanitation, child health, education, child protection and nutrition, and we will continue to work in all of those areas," Keele said. "Obviously, we had a high level of security at the United Nations headquarters before this incident, but no one in their wildest dreams imagined that something like this would occur." Keele pointed out that UNICEF was continuing to operate in Iraq through a dangerous time - before the war and now. "UNICEF's principles have always been to work as a partner with the Iraqi people, and that's going to be how we continue to operate, because it's through the Iraqi people that we can continue to accomplish our goals. We can't do it ourselves," he emphasised. As some humanitarian workers left the country late last week, others were setting up new temporary offices, getting ready to move many staff from the UN headquarters, which is reportedly to be demolished, to an office for employees of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in central Baghdad. On Saturday, staff were cleaning the UNHCR office to get it ready for the new occupants, said a UN employee who declined to be named. UN employees are currently coordinating operations and logistics from a tent pitched opposite the UN headquarters. It was unclear at this point how long temporary arrangements might last, said Daniel Bellamy, a UNHCR spokesman. His agency will move to a house near the UNHCR office. Meanwhile, attacks on Iraqi civilians have also continued, with three killed and nine wounded in an assassination attempt on the leading Shi'ah Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Muhammad Sa'id al-Hakim, in the holy city of Najaf. The cleric received only scratches in the blast at his office on Sunday afternoon, but two of his bodyguards and a driver were killed.