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POLITICS: U.N. To Seek Accountability in Algiers Bombing

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 26 2007 (IPS) - The United Nations is expected to launch a full scale investigation into the circumstances that led to the December terrorist attack on U.N. offices in Algiers. The attack, one of the most tragic episodes in the history of the world body, claimed the lives of 17 staffers.

The investigation will also ascertain whether any senior U.N. management officials should be held accountable for security lapses that may have led to the attack, which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, had “shocked and overwhelmed” him.

In the aftermath of an equally devastating attack on the U.N. offices in Baghdad in Aug. 2003, the U.N. fired its Chief Security Coordinator Tun Myat, and demoted another senior U.N. officer Ramiro Lopes da Silva, holding both of them accountable for security lapses that led to that terrorist bombing in the Iraqi capital.

“Despite having upgraded the security post to that of an Under-Secretary- General [the third highest ranking post in the U.N. system], and pouring millions of dollars into field security since then, is it not curious why no one in the U.N. has been held accountable in the same manner as Tun Myat [a Burmese], for the Algiers attack?” asked a U.N. staffer. “Are staff from certain countries treated differently?”

Asked to comment, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told IPS: “The review into what went wrong in Algiers is just beginning. You’ll recall the actions taken against Tun Myat and Ramiro Lopes da Silva took place several months later, after two extensive reviews and reports [by Martii Ahtisaari and Gerald Walzer]. We expect a report to be produced in this case, as well.”

Just after the attack on the U.N. offices in Baghdad, then Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed an ‘Independent Panel on the Safety and Security of United Nations Personnel in Iraq’. The panel was headed by Maarti Ahtisaari, the former President of Finland.

In response to the recommendations of the Ahtissari panel, Annan established a team to “determine accountability at all managerial levels at Headquarters and in the field” for the relevant decisions prior to the attack on the Baghdad office.

Gerald Walzer, a former Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, headed that team. The firing of a senior U.N. staffer and the demotion of a second staffer followed the recommendations of Walzer’s team.

Both staffers were temporarily relieved of their responsibilities while the Walzer team conducted its investigation.

Last week the U.N. Staff Council’s ‘Standing Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service’ “demanded a full and independent investigation to determine the circumstances” related to the attack on the U.N. offices in Algeria.

The Committee also wanted to know “if adequate security was in place at the U.N. premises in Algiers.” “It must be determined whether there were warnings of a possible attack and the responses thereon.”

In addition, the Committee has called for a “worldwide review of security arrangements for all U.N. premises, and an examination of related policies and procedures currently in place.”

The Committee also stressed the “inherent responsibility of the Secretary- General to seek to ensure that all necessary safety and security arrangements are made for staff.”

After a visit to the site of the terrorist attacks in Algiers, the secretary- general said the bomb explosion which ripped through the U.N. compound had a “devastating impact”. One part of the building, housing the offices of U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), was completely flattened, he said.

“Rubble was strewn far and wide. Scattered on the ground were items of our every day life – files, computers, highlighters. I was so humbled looking at all those things which were used by our colleagues at the time of the explosion. It is clear that at the U.N. House in Algiers, life stopped at 9:30am on December 11th 2007,” he told staffers, after his return to New York last week.

In a highly emotional statement, a visibly shaken Ban also said he met with survivors and families of the victims. Many of them were children, he said.

The secretary-general said his experience strengthened his resolve to do everything in his power “to improve the security of our staff. I will soon present a proposal for a review of U.N. security worldwide.”

At the same time, he was critical of the breakdown in communications in the aftermath of the attack.

“We will also do all in our power to put into place communications systems in duty stations that function adequately when an emergency occurs”.

He pointed out that the U.N. family in Algiers “faced severe logistical problems in communicating over the past week, and that made their terrible ordeal even worse.”

“We must, and will, remedy this, in duty stations around the world. We also face a wider communications challenge.” He said the United Nations must do even better in explaining to the public and the media the role of the world body, “wherever we operate – why we are there, what we do, what we stand for and what we don’t.”

“We must make clear we are not there to represent the interests of any one group of nations over another. We must make clear that we are there to clear mines, build schools, run clinics, advance the rule of law, help protect the environment and help protect human rights. In short, [we are there] to build better lives for the men, women and children we exist to serve,” he declared.