UN Expands Role in Iraq
UNAMI Given New Mandate under UN Resolution 1770 (2007)
Uncertainty looms as UN Staff Council voices opposition to expanded role for UN and issues its own Resolution, calling for the removal of all UN staff based in Iraq.
Courageous, brave and daring; these are just some of the words that can be used to describe the United Nations Security Council’s unanimous decision on Friday 10 August 2007 to expand its current role in Iraq.
UN Resolution 1770 (2007) expands the four year old mission in Iraq (UNAMI) into one that also works to ‘promote, support, and facilitate’ effective economic and social services, in coordination with the Government of Iraq. UNAMI’s previous role had been mainly restricted to reconstruction work.
Courage Under Fire
The Resolution can be described as courageous because it follows the August 2003 bombing that destroyed UN Headquarters and claimed the lives of civilian staff working to rebuild Iraq after the February 2003 invasion . This attack resulted in a significant reappraisal of UNAMI and reduction of civilian staff to a ceiling of 65.
There was a gradual increase of staff numbers from April 2004 to reach a figure of 700, mainly based in Jordan and Kuwait. The UN continues to define its role in Iraq through a renewable annual mandate. Resolution 1770 (2007) is the latest in a series of six resolutions.
Co-sponsors
Cynics would argue that Resolution 1770 amounts to nothing more than the preparation of a convenient exit strategy for the US and UK, as they were the co-sponsors of this Resolution alongside Italy and Slovakia. The expansion of UNAMI’s role comes just days after the Iraqi coalition government was virtually brought to its knees by the withdrawal of the Sunni Accordance Front and 5 cabinet ministers.
Iraq’s deteriorating political, cultural and economic state continues nine months after the Iraq Study Group Report, led by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former congressman Lee H. Hamilton, recommended that the United States launch a “comprehensive New Diplomatic Offensive” that would involve direct negations with Syria and Iran.
Cultural Diplomacy
The UN Security Council’s meeting was followed by the usual showering of diplomatic platitudes, led by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He highlighted the central role that cultural diplomacy would play in the drive to realise a peaceful and prosperous Iraq.
Ban Ki-moon said “Promoting and encouraging political facilitation and dialogue among different factions and ethnic religious groups – this will be one of the important areas where the United Nations will be engaged,”
UN Staff Council Disapproval
The UN Staff Council voiced opposition to these plans by adopting a resolution of its own on Tuesday 7 of August. It called on Ban Ki-moon "not to deploy any additional staff members to Iraq and to remove those currently serving’ because of security concerns.
The 2003 bombing of UN Headquarters in Iraq has left a permanent scar in the corporate psyche of UN staff and the reality on the ground suggests that Iraq has become a more dangerous place to work than it was four years ago.
Assurances by the Secretary-General that “safety and security will remain a paramount concern” will have to be supported by actions on the ground.
Read more: Iraq: 1991 and 2003 Invasions
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Sources: United Nations Official Information Gateway, Al Arabiya News, Llyod’s Dow Jones Newswires
