POLITICS: U.N. Staff Seeks Answers in 2007 Algiers Bombing

• by Haider Rizvi (united nations)
• Wednesday, April 15, 2009
• Inter Press Service

'We want to know about those people who were responsible for that incident,' said Stephen Kisambira, president of the staff union, which comprises over 26,000 members.

On Dec. 11, 2007, more than 17 staffers were killed and dozens more wounded as a result of the deadly attack at the U.N. offices in the capital, Algiers. The al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb later claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing that caused the second highest staff casualties in the history of the United Nations.

Another attack minutes earlier near the country’s Supreme Constitutional Court killed about 60 others.

Kisambira told IPS there is a growing sense of insecurity among U.N. employees because the organisation has failed to take strong action on the Algerian incident.

The attack led to the formation of an independent panel, which after completing its investigation, urged the U.N. to improve its security apparatus. In its report last June, the panel indicated that certain employees had failed to respond adequately to the Algeria attack, both before and after the tragedy.

'There were significant lapses in judgment and performance on the part of those involved,' said the panel in its report submitted to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.

Led by Algeria’s former foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi, the panel said the U.N. must take action to 'review the responsibilities of the key individuals and offices concerned.'

In response to the Brahimi report, Ban appointed a follow-up group on the question of accountability, headed by Ralph Zacklin, a former assistant secretary-general for legal affairs. About six months ago, Zacklin reported back to Ban with an 88-page report on what led to compromising the security and safety of the U.N. staff in Algeria.

Kisambira complained that Ban has not only failed to take any steps to tighten security, but has withheld the Zacklin report’s findings from staff.

'The U.N. is once again failing to address the accountability and security issues in a straightforward and transparent manner,' he said. 'All staff members owe it to our dead colleagues that such security failures do not happen again.'

Kisambira said he and other union officials have tried several times to ask the top U.N. leadership why the report was not made public, but so far they have had no adequate response.

The Brahimi report called for a 'system-wide' review of security strategy, performance and resources on a regular basis and increase in funding by donor nations.

The panel found that most of the staff members are 'not adequately informed about their rights and obligations,' including on the issue of security and safety.

Long-time observers at the U.N. relate the secrecy surrounding the Algeria report to the tendency among top officials to be distracted by U.S. foreign policy imperatives.

In its report, the Brahimi Panel observed that at the time of attack in Algeria, senior U.N. managers were 'preoccupied with Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia and Sudan,' a veiled reference to U.N. involvement in the so-called U.S.-led war on terror.

'Algeria was not on their radar screen,' said the report, noting that during the early and middle part of 2007 when the situation in Algeria 'clearly required sustained attention, key parts of the Department of Security and Safety were undergoing personnel changes.'

Over the past several decades, the political and military leadership in Algeria has been consistently backed by the United States, despite its oppressive and undemocratic ways of governance.

Like many parts of the Muslim world, many Algerians see the U.N. as an institution that has compromised on its principles of neutrality and impartiality and, in most cases, aligns itself with the interests of the United States and other former colonial powers.

The Brahimi panel urged the U.N. to take measures to demonstrate its impartial character. It said member states 'need to be aware of the impact of decisions taken in intergovernmental bodies on the image of impartiality and neutrality of the U.N. and on the security of U.N. staff and properly around the world.'

In response to a question, Kisambira said Ban’s 'failure to meet his responsibilities in a timely manner smacks of indifference, incompetence, or chicanery.' In his opinion, Ban predecessor, former secretary-general Kofi Annan, did a much better job in addressing the issue of security.

Asked why the U.N. is not releasing its report on Algeria in full detail, a spokesperson for Ban told IPS: 'It’s due to security reasons.' He declined, however, to elaborate what those security reasons are.

Kisambira said he and his colleagues understand the 'need for confidentiality,' but added that they believe 'it would be in the interest of the U.N. to make the findings and conclusions of the Zacklin report, to the greatest extent possible, public.'

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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