UN staff pull out of Iraq

More than 30 UN international staff pulled out of Iraq after additional staff cutbacks were ordered due to security concerns, leaving just 50 foreign employees behind, a UN spokesman said.

The number of UN workers in Iraq will continue to fluctuate because “there will be some movements out, and there’s going to be occasional movements back in”, spokesman Fred Eckhard said at a news briefing.

The UN had 300 international staff in Baghdad and another 300 elsewhere in Iraq before a car bomb on August 19 killed 22 people at its headquarters in Baghdad.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan later ordered the number reduced to 42 in Baghdad and 44 in the north.