Scotsman.com News - International - UN work = slows to a crawl in Iraq



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UN work slows to a crawl in = Iraq=20

BORZOU DARAGAHI IN = BAGHDAD=20

THE blue flak jacket is heavy and cumbersome, and = Roger=20 Guarda frets uncomfortably as he pulls it off.

"It=E2=80=99s hot and I=E2=80=99m choking," = grumbles the new head of the=20 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in = Baghdad. "But=20 because the UN is now a target in Iraq, we have to = wear these=20 things every time we leave the office."

Freed of his body armour, he gets down to business. = But=20 instead of heading out into the field and surveying = the array=20 of UN job programmes, park rehabilitations and = electricity=20 generation projects, he stays close to his desk, = playing phone=20 tag with colleagues in Jordan and beyond.

"The work I used to complete in one day, I now do = in four=20 days," he says with dismay. "Since I started this job, = all I=20 focus on is security."

The foreign ministers of the UN Security = Council=E2=80=99s=20 permanent members convene in Geneva this weekend to = discuss=20 United States proposals to expand the role of the UN = under the=20 US-led occupation of Iraq.

The Bush administration, faced with huge bills for=20 rebuilding and the daunting challenge of securing the=20 California-sized nation, wants more help from the=20 international community and the UN.

But in the wake of the 19 August lorry bomb at the = UN=E2=80=99s=20 Canal Hotel headquarters -- which killed the = UN=E2=80=99s Iraq envoy,=20 Sergio Vieira de Mello, and at least 22 others - = giving Iraqis=20 a hand has become a complicated affair. UN officials = say=20 safety precautions have begun to hamper their ability = to=20 deliver help to local people.

Although it vows it will never abandon Iraq, the UN = has=20 pulled out nearly 340 of its 400 international staff. =

UN offices, once friendly and inviting compared to = US=20 military bases and quarters of the Coalition = Provisional=20 Authority, have become barricaded fortresses = surrounded by=20 concrete and security guards.

Plainclothes UN security officials, toting = machine-guns,=20 have been scouring the homes of UN employees, ordering = the few=20 remaining international staff to remain in their = hotels at=20 night and turning the once-coveted Baghdad assignment = into a=20 virtual house arrest. Several officials said a plan is = being=20 considered to move all UN staff out of hotels and into = tents=20 on the grounds of the Canal Hotel.

UN staffers complain that maintaining contact with = and=20 assessing the needs of the Iraqi population, much less = delivering services, is much harder.

But Mr Guarda, 62, a Belgian of Italian descent, = said it=20 was important to keep a presence in Baghdad. "It is = important=20 that Iraqis do not feel abandoned. The UN is like a = big=20 brother to Iraq. It=E2=80=99s important that people = don=E2=80=99t feel like=20 the big brother is leaving them."

UN leaders often say that reducing and constraining = international staff will not affect UN operations = because the=20 Iraqi staff can do their jobs.

But even Iraqi employees say new security rules = complicate=20 their tasks. Aziz Ahmad, an Iraqi UNDP engineer, used = to hop=20 into two-vehicle convoys and travel from his northern = Iraq=20 base in Erbil to the Baghdad office at will. Now, he = says, he=20 must find a rare UN flight between the two cities. = "The road=20 is regarded as too dangerous," Mr Ahmad says. = "It=E2=80=99s very=20 frustrating because our job is fieldwork."

Although it was the most spectacular of attacks = against the=20 UN, the still unsolved 19 August bombing was not the = first and=20 only time UN or UN-tied organisations have been = attacked in=20 Iraq. Assaults against the UN=E2=80=99s distinctive = vehicles and=20 installations had already forced more intensive = security=20 precautions.

But the 19 August attack - unprecedented in its = carnage,=20 audacity and impact - was on a wholly different scale. =

Now, only the most dedicated UN veterans take on an = Iraqi=20 assignment. Mr Guarda, a UN globetrotter since he was = 24, has=20 worked in Cambodia, Panama, Malaysia, Zaire, Cuba, = Burkina=20 Faso and the Palestinian Territories.

Although past retirement age, he felt obligated to=20 volunteer for Iraq after his predecessor and friend, = Henrik=20 Kolstrup, was seriously wounded in the attack. "I was=20 shocked," said Mr Guarda, who was finishing an = assignment in=20 Erbil and about to head to New York. "I love the UN = family."=20

A day in the work life of a UN worker has become = longer and=20 more dreary. Mr Guarda is spending this particular day = setting=20 up a "virtual office" so employees evacuated to Amman = and=20 Beirut can speak with those in the Baghdad office and = those=20 working from home.

"You try to work as if the team was complete, but = obviously=20 it=E2=80=99s a lot more complicated," Mr Guarda says. =

UN involvement in Iraq intensified following the = creation=20 of the oil-for-food programme in the late 1990s. The = program=20 allowed Iraq, then under the strict sanctions, limited = sales=20 of oil to provide revenue for humanitarian needs.

Each Iraqi received a food ration. Iraq=E2=80=99s = war-damaged=20 infrastructure was patched up, but then the UN = evacuated all=20 of its international staff and curtailed operations = before the=20 bombing began.

UNDP projects launched or resumed since the = UN=E2=80=99s return to=20 Baghdad in May include rehabilitation of the power and = water=20 infrastructure, reforestation, school reconstruction = and=20 rubbish collection.

UN projects that do get off the ground can be of = huge=20 benefit to the people. In a park in the Adhamiya = district of=20 Baghdad, 30 workers pruned weeds and refurbished a = statue of=20 Antar Ben Shadat, a poet and pre-Islamic Iraqi hero. =

Wasif Mohamad, a formerly unemployed blacksmith, is = paid=20 just under =C2=A35 a day under the programme. = "It=E2=80=99s the most I=E2=80=99ve=20 ever earned," said the young man with dirty, calloused = hands.=20 "It=E2=80=99s helping me put food on my = family=E2=80=99s table."

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