UN staff evacuated over war-risk insurance

All international UN staff were withdrawn from Somalia on Monday after war-risks insurance coverage for all UN flights was discontinued by the insurance company. The lapse of the war-risk coverage occurred “due to the enormous insurance claims arising out of the attacks in the USA”, a UN statement said on Monday. Some 30 international staff from Hargeysa, in the self-declared state of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, and 15 international staff from Baidoa, southern Somalia, will be flown out before the war-risks insurance expires at midnight on 24 September, the UN said. Randolph Kent, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, emphasised that the decision was a “temporary set back” and had “nothing to do with the security situation in Somalia, which remains stable and unchanged”. In order to reassure Somali authorities that the withdrawal was due solely to the demands of the insurance company, Kent had travelled to Hargeysa and Baidoa over the weekend of 22 September to confirm it was a technical problem “that should be resolved very shortly”, the statement said. These areas were described as being characterised by their continuing stability and security. He had also been in contact with the Transitional National Government in Mogadishu and other authorities. “My colleagues within the UN Country Team and I remain determined that humanitarian and development programmes will continue during this time.” UN sources told IRIN that there was concern that the withdrawal would be linked to recent reports that there were links between Osmana bin Laden, widely suspected to be behind the recent terrorist attacks in the US, and groups in Somalia. “This is absolutely not true”, the sources said.