PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COORDINATOR

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COORDINATOR

At a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon, Tun Myat, United Nations Security Coordinator, said there were some 646 staff members in Iraq, including 308 in Baghdad at the time of the Tuesday terror attack against the United Nations headquarters there.  They included staff from 22 different United Nations agencies and organizations.

The task of counting the dead and wounded had been extremely difficult, he said.  There had been 23 confirmed dead.  They included 13 international staff and 5 Iraqi nationals.  Two bodies had not been identified.  Two staff members were still missing.  The task of reconciling figures and verifying those missing was continuing.  He recalled the Secretary-General’s statement yesterday of the need to ensure that the identification process was completed and next of kin informed before publication of names of victims.

Mr. Myat, who would be leaving for Baghdad this evening with a team, outlined the security arrangements at the Canal Hotel complex which housed the United Nations headquarters.  He said that internal security -– from the fence surrounding the hotel to the building itself -- was the responsibility of United Nations Security.  Outside the immediate perimeter of the building, there had been and continued to be a detachment or platoon of 30 soldiers from the United States 2^nd Air Calvary Regiment.  The soldiers were part of the force that been there during the war, and without them, he said the offices would have been completely looted.  The platoon was housed in an adjoining barracks very close to the main building -- about 20 metres away.  They also had a rapid response unit about a mile away.  The platoon provided security at the immediate vicinity of the building.  They maintained a checkpoint about 30 metres from the front gate of the Canal Hotel.

To reinforce the perimeter of the premises, he said a decision had been taken earlier on to construct a concrete wall.  Thus far, the building had only been fenced with barbed wire and metal sheeting.  The explosion took place at the point where work on the wall was going on.

Responding to questions, Mr. Myat said that the Canal Hotel complex, even in the days when it housed the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) during its difficult relations with the Government of Iraq, had never been a target of attacks.  Never in their “wildest dreams or nightmares” was there a thought the building could be targeted.  “I had thought that we could have personnel at the wrong place at the wrong time and winding up as collateral damage”.  That had always been the greatest worry, he said.

He told the questioner that he could not attribute any blame or stinginess to anybody in terms of resources, because only last year and the previous one had the General Assembly approved very substantial increases for security, including staff security at United Nations Headquarters in New York.  The General Assembly had also provided for the strengthening of United Nations security systems worldwide, he said and added, however, that “of course, things could always be better”.  They were still in the process of implementing some of the recommendations that came with the augmenting of the budget.

“I suppose with an event so traumatic and so grave as the Baghdad bombing” there would be the need for heightened security.  The cost of security was the cost of doing the business of the United Nations, whether it was for political, humanitarian affairs, he said.

Asked to apprise correspondents about the assessment of the Chief of the United Nations Security and Safety Service who had visited Baghdad, Mr. Myat said he was not aware of it and that he had only read about it yesterday.  He had not seen Mr. McCann’s report himself.  He said a very thorough investigation of the events was required, including what needed to be done or strengthened and the lessons to be learned.

Questioned again about the platoon, he said the soldiers were outside the United Nations premises.  The United Nations had its own security inside the compound.  The United Nations could not operate in “fortress mentality”, he said.  That would be defeatist.  He added that the United Nations needed to be close to the people.  Its operations there were basically humanitarian in nature.  The 30 soldiers were at a location outside the main gate at the other end, and none had been injured in the blast which occurred at the opposite side of the building.

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