Posted on 05/06/2004 9:13:59 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. staff union criticized Secretary-General Kofi Annan for sending U.N. employees to Iraq despite the danger and urged him Thursday to hold senior staff responsible for security lapses before the bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
The U.N. Staff Council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution criticizing the world body's handling of the aftermath of the Aug. 19 bombing that killed 22 people, including U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, and wounded more than 150.
The resolution, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, said the union was "dismayed that the secretary-general continues to send staff to Iraq despite the present highly volatile and insecure environment."
The union said it was "shocked" that "the secretary-general did not do justice to those who perished by not holding accountable all those senior U.N. officials whose managerial incompetence and gross negligence failed the staff."
The union called for "additional steps to address the serious flaws in the security management system."
It also asked Annan to "institute measures that will ensure that the organization acknowledges its full responsibility" for those who died or were wounded in the Baghdad bombing and to make sure that their families are fully compensated.
Marie Okabe, a U.N. spokeswoman, had no immediate comment on the resolution but reiterated that the secretary-general stood by his commitment to address the staff's security concerns. Annan issued a letter last month detailing measures taken to improve security arrangements and protect U.N. staff after the bombings.
In October, an independent study blamed "dysfunctional" U.N. security for unnecessary casualties in the August bombing and pointed to continued security lapses at the time of a second bombing of U.N. offices in September, which killed several Iraqi police officers.
The bombings led the United Nations to withdraw all staff from Iraq. Only small U.N. security and election teams are working with Iraqi officials in the transition of sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30. Last month, Annan rejected the possibility of sending a large U.N. staff to Iraq in the near future.
Highlighting security problems in Iraq, an audio recording attributed to Osama bin Laden and released Thursday offered rewards in gold for the killing of top U.S. and U.N. officials in Iraq or of citizens of any nation fighting there.
After the October report, Annan appointed a separate panel to investigate who was to blame for security lapses.
Based on that panel's findings, Annan in March fired one senior U.N. official and demoted another for failing to protect U.N. staff ahead of the Aug. 19 bombing.
But he refused to accept the resignation of Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, who chaired a steering group on Iraq when the United Nations decided last May that U.N. staff could go back into the country after the U.S.-led war.
His spokesman cited the "collective nature of the failures attributable to the Steering Council on Iraq as a whole" as the reason for Annan's refusal to accept the resignation.
The U.N. staff union, in its resolution, said it rejects "in its entirety the concept of 'collective responsibility,' which is contrary to the principles of accountability and responsibility which the organization has pronounced as part of its core values."
It demanded that Annan "demonstrate organizational integrity by reconsidering his decision not to accept the resignation of the deputy secretary-general and to only issue letters of reprimand to higher officials while singling out lower level personnel for severe disciplinary actions."
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