| UN Withdraws Civilian Staff from Iraq-Kuwait Border
Sat March 8, 2003 03:36 PM ET
KUWAIT - U.N. military observers on the Iraq-Kuwait border said on Saturday they were withdrawing civilian staff to Kuwait City for their own safety in view of a possible U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Daljeet Bagga, spokesman of the U.N. Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission (UNIKOM), added that UNIKOM had also ceased air and maritime patrols of the demilitarized zone, saying without elaborating that this was a precautionary measure.
"We are doing this as a protective measure for their safety in view of the situation," Bagga told Reuters of the decision to withdraw civilian staff.
He said UNIKOM had begun on Saturday to remove some of its 230 civilian U.N. staff from their residential quarters in the demilitarized zone that runs the length of the 130 mile land border. More of them would go on Sunday.
UNIKOM's 195 observers and its 775-strong Bangladeshi military support units would stay in place, Bagga said.
U.N. investigators reported on Friday that a commercial contractor was building new gates in a fence separating the two countries, a barrier U.S. forces would have to cross if they invade Iraq from the Gulf state.
UNIKOM, which monitors the 12-year-old demilitarized border zone said the building of the seven gates -- wide enough to accommodate a tank -- followed recent sightings of U.S. soldiers entering the Kuwaiti side of the zone.
The project triggered speculation the work was being carried out in preparation for war. Tens of thousands of U.S. and British troops are in Kuwait preparing for possible air and ground attacks on Iraq. Bagga said UNIKOM's main land patrols were continuing but it was slimming down its operations so as to perform only those duties that were "absolutely necessary." Air and maritime patrols form only a small part of its activities.
"This move began today after we got approval from the (U.N.) Secretary-General. We are doing it as a preparatory measure in case there are developments in the situation," he said.
UNIKOM has not publicly said what it would do if U.S. and British forces stormed through its demilitarized zone if President Bush decides to go to war with Iraq over weapons of mass destruction he says Iraq is hiding.
Arab and Western diplomats say that the U.N. force will in effect be dismantled shortly before any military action and withdrawn to Kuwait City.
(Reuters) | |
