IRAQ: AS IRAQI PREPARE TO BURY AKILA AL-HASHEMI KILLED IN A GUN ATTACK, THE UNITED NATIONS ANNOUNCES SCALING DOWN OF ITS OPERATIONS DUE TO SECURITY REASONS

Record ID: 647261

  • Title: IRAQ: AS IRAQI PREPARE TO BURY AKILA AL-HASHEMI KILLED IN A GUN ATTACK, THE UNITED NATIONS ANNOUNCES SCALING DOWN OF ITS OPERATIONS DUE TO SECURITY REASONS
  • Date: 26th September 2003
  • Summary: (W3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 26, 2003) (REUTERS) SLV/SV OF PEOPLE ENTERING THE HOUSE TO PAY THEIR RESPECTS TO AL HASHEMI'S FAMILY (2 SHOTS) SLV CHIEF OF POLICE ARRIVING LV FRENCH AMBASSADOR ARRIVING LV PEOPLE MARCHING IN FUNERAL PROCESSION SV COFFIN BEING CARRIED SLV/SV PEOPLE CRYING (5 SHOTS) SLV OF FUNERAL PROCESSION SLV POLICE AND SECURITY (W3) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 26, 2003) (REUTERS) SV/MCU VERONIQUE TAVEAU, UNITED NATIONS (U.N.) PRESS OFFICER, TALKING TO MEDIA (2 SHOTS) MCU (English) VERONIQUE TAVEAU, U.N. PRESS OFFICER SAYING "The United Nations is not evacuating its staff. We are as the Secretary General said yesterday, it's a temporary measure. We are relocating the non-essential staff to the neighbouring country because of the situation and because of what happened at Canal Hotel. You know we had two bomb attacks and the security is a real concern for all of us, but it's not an evacuation and it is a temporary measure and there will be some international staff that will remain in Iraq and will still be working in Iraq." SV TAVEAU TALKING TO MEDIA MCU (English) TAVEAU SAYING "We are reassessing the situation on a daily basis and as soon as the security situation has improved we will bring back staff here in Iraq."
  • Embargoed: 11th October 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAE7E3D6KL4CSPTH2SKW3AD798Z
  • Story Text: As Iraqis prepare to bury Akila al-Hashemi, a member of Washington's handpicked Iraqi Governing Council killed in a gun attack, the United Nations announces scaling down of its operations due to security reasons.
    Diplomats and prominent Iraqis held a memorial ceremony on Friday (September 26) for Akila al-Hashemi, one of the Council's members who died from wounds suffered in a gun attack six days ago.
    Akila al-Hashemi was one of the three women on Washington's handpicked Iraqi Governing Council and was to be part of the Iraqi delegation to the U.N. General Assembly this week.
    Members of her family carried her coffin, draped in an Iraqi flag, into the Governing Council offices, chanting the Islamic declaration of faith. Colleagues said her death would not weaken the council's determination.
    The body was later taken to Hashemi's house, and she was expected to be buried in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf.
    Hashemi's murder - she died on Thursday (September 25) five days after assassins opened fire on her car - and the U.N. pullout after a second attack on their headquarters last week, were fresh setbacks to U.S. efforts to speed the process of building a credible Iraqi government and win m ore international help to police and rebuild the country.
    Guerrillas opposed to the U.S.-led occupation have targeted Westerners, Iraqis cooperating with Bremer's administration, U.S. and British soldiers.
    Eight soldiers were wounded, three seriously, when their convoy came under attack in the northern city of Mosul, and a Somalian security guard was killed at the Baghdad hotel housing journalists from U.S. television network NBC.
    Attacks have also been aimed at sabotaging the sprawling infrastructure of a country which holds the second largest oil reserves in the world.
    Guerrilla attacks have killed 79 U.S. soldiers in Iraq since Washington declared major combat over on May 1. Many more have been wounded.
    Concern over security led the United Nations to announce it was scaling back its international staff.
    But the U.N. press officer in Baghdad, Veronique Taveau, insisted on Friday (September 26) that it was only a temporary measure.
    The United Nations said it was withdrawing 19 of its 105 international staff in Iraq due to concerns over security.
    U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has agonised over security since a suicide bomb attack on U.N. Baghdad headquarters last month killed 22 people, including mission head Sergio Vieira de Mello.
    U.N. sources said they could not rule out an eventual reduction of staff to as few as one or two international staff, depending how security evolved.
    The decision nevertheless dealt a fresh blow to U.S.
    claims the situation was under control in Iraq. U.N.
    offices in Baghdad have twice come under attack.
    "The United Nations is not evacuating its staff. We are as the Secretary General said yesterday, its a temporary measure. We are re locating the non-essential staff to the neighbouring country because of the situation and because of what happened at Canal Hotel. You know we had two bomb attacks and the security is a real concern for all of us, but it's not an evacuation and it is a temporary measure and there will be some international staff that will remain in Iraq and will still working in Iraq," Taveau said.
    The suicide bomb attack on the United Nations took place in the same week as an assassination attempt on Akila al-Hashemi.
    "We are reassessing the situation on a daily basis and as soon as the security situation has improved we will bring back staff here in Iraq," Taveau said.
    A World Food Programme spokeswoman said immediately after the attack that up to 3,000 U.N. staff were still working in Iraq and that relocation did not mean an end to the coordination of the U.N. programme in Iraq.
    "The bottom line is that there are more than 3,000 U.N. staff working in Iraq , nationals and internationals and the work is being done on the ground and that some people are being relocated to do their functions from other places doesn't mean the U.N. has stopped working here,"
    Antonia Paradella said.
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