One year on, UN workers still coming to terms with Baghdad bombing

One year on, United Nations staffers who survived a truck bomb attack in Baghdad that killed 22, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative to Iraq, are still struggling to come to grips with happened. Kim Bolduc, now the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative in Honduras, was one of those injured in the bombing on 19 August 2003. In recent days she and some of the more than 100 colleagues injured in the blast have been discussing it. “Those who were around who survived could hardly deal with it,” Bolduc told IRIN. “The most scary issue is that normally people who want to commit a crime are deterred by getting caught. Now we’re facing something new - where a person is dying for this. I don’t know how we will function as a United Nations open house, the people’s house, and still protect our workers.” Bolduc said she misses the kindness of Iraqis and wants to return some day to thank the people who helped her. “The lives we sacrificed in Iraq, it was really wasteful,” Bolduc said. “These were young, talented people,” she added, remembering the tragic event. An aid worker from the South African-based aid agency Lifeline, agreed. He had been in the Internet room of the Canal Hotel just one day earlier - his colleagues went there the day of the blast to download some documents but left just before the bomb went off, Branko Dubajic, programme coordinator for the Iraq office, told IRIN. “It was one of the worst experiences I have ever had,” Dubajic said. “I lost some friends, so it was really horrible.” Patients at the newly rebuilt spinal injury hospital next to the Canal Hotel said they believe the bomber was from outside of Iraq. No culprit has been named in a US-led investigation into the bombing. While virtually all attention following the blast focused on United Nations workers, the bomb also destroyed the hospital. None of the spinal injury patients were killed, although the ceiling fell down on many of the 80-plus patients, injuring them. “Sergio [Vieira] de Mello and the other United Nations people came to help Iraqis, so the people who did this must hate my country,” Haider Salal Fellah, 32, told IRIN. The wheelchair patients recalled when they once met de Mello outside near a car park below his office, where they often sat in the sun, Fellah said. “He saluted us and told us to be strong,” said Fellah, who lost the use of his legs after being accidentally electrocuted while working 14 years ago as a soldier in the Iraqi Army. “He talked to us. He said we must remain optimistic, because God will watch over us.” Patients at the hospital now worry they will hit be again, this time by mortars fired by Mehdi army members at US troops now based at the Canal Hotel. Nearby Sadr City, a suburb of Baghdad has seen intense fighting in recent days, they said. “I’m a little scared because there are many US forces here,” said Sabah Shihab, 25, who was paralysed in a fall from a tree. “Two days ago, there was a mortar in the parking lot that scared us all. And I’m worried the terrorists will try to attack again - this time at the US troops.” UN staff who have recently returned to Baghdad quietly commemorated the one-year anniversary at a Diwaniya school, said Nejib Friji, spokesman to Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, the new special representative to Iraq. Qazi read a statement from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to local and international staff. About 30 UN staff are in the country to work on a conference held to elect a national assembly and to prepare for elections expected in January 2005. All International staff were evacuated following the bombing, but the vast majority do what they can from neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Kuwait. Workers at UN offices worldwide observed a minute of silence to commemorate the attack, before hearing an emotional speech from Annan in Geneva. Security and safety of all UN staff will remain the "overarching guiding principle" for all UN activities in Iraq, Annan said in his latest report to the Security Council. At the same time, the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, announced it was committed to carrying out its humanitarian mission in Iraq, one year after Christopher Klein-Beekman, 31, the officer in charge, was killed in the blast. "Chris's energy, drive and commitment to Iraqi children will never be forgotten," Carol Bellamy, UNICEF executive director, said in a press release. "Events since this tragedy have only reinforced our sense of determination to meet the needs of Iraq's children - now more than ever."