Iraq: Annan appoints independent panel to probe terror attack against UN

Even as a new terrorist attack rocked its premises in Baghdad today, the United Nations announced that Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked a former Finnish President and veteran of many UN missions to chair an Independent Panel on the Safety and Security of UN Personnel in Iraq following the devastating bombing of 19 August.

The panel, which Martti Ahtisaari will head, will examine all relevant facts about the situation before the August attack, which killed 22 people, including top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, and led to the withdrawal of many international UN personnel, the circumstances of the attack itself and actions taken by different parties afterwards.

The panel is expected to complete its work within about six weeks and give a detailed account of a range of issues, including security relations between the UN and the United States-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), and responsibilities within the UN relating to staff security, both at Headquarters in New York and in the field.

It will also seek to identify key lessons for future security management and arrangements, with a view to preventing further such tragedies, or at least limiting their effects.

The panellists, who are independent of the UN Secretariat, will have full access to all necessary documents, and will be able to interview any staff member in full confidentiality.

Mr. Ahtisaari has chosen the following panel members: Peter Fitzgerald, Deputy Commissioner of the Irish National Police; Brigadier-General Jaakko Taneli Oksanen of the Finnish Army; and Claude Bruderlein, Director of the Programme on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University. These panellists will be able to call on the assistance of other experts as and when they find necessary.