[Mb-civic] UN staff call for Afghan pullout BBC

[Michael Butler]

 UN staff call for Afghan pullout
 The United Nations should withdraw all its personnel from Afghanistan as
the country has become too dangerous to work in, the UN staff union has
said. 

 The union said staff should leave the country until new security measures
had been introduced.

 The union said UN personnel was likely to become a target in the run-up to
October's elections.

 "As we approach election time, more than likely attacks will intensify,"
union vice-president Guy Candusso said.

 Baghdad bomb 

 The union's call came days after a series of bombs exploded at a voter
registration centre in western Afghanistan.

 Afghan voters are due to elect a president in October and a new parliament
in April.

 A UN spokesman said that they had recently carried out a security
assessment of the country and were putting extra measures in place.

 "The overall security in Afghanistan is in the process of being upgraded,"
Stephane Dujarric told the Associated Press.

 In July global medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) announced
it was leaving the country after 24 years, citing security fears

 Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of attacks on the UN's
headquarters in Baghdad which left 22 dead, including envoy Sergio Vieira de
Mello.

 An independent inquiry ordered by Secretary General Kofi Annan found that
the UN's security management system at the time was dysfunctional.

 Mr Annan has said that the organisation is now wrestling with the difficult
question of how to remain involved in areas where staff are increasingly
under attack.

 "How do we operate in places like Iraq and some parts of Afghanistan, where
many people want and expect us to help... but some are determined to block
our work at any price?" he said on the anniversary of the attack.

 Story from BBC NEWS:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/3586002.stm

 Published: 2004/08/21 12:51:31 GMT

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