Saturday, January 19, 2008
By John J. Metzler, Special to The China Post
UNITED NATIONS -- Al-Qaida terrorists left a devastating calling card in Algiers just outside the U.N. offices which coordinate humanitarian activities. Last month's bombing which shattered the United Nations office complex in Algiers, killing 17 staff and injuring 40 others, was yet another grisly reminder that al-Qaida's terrorists play no favorites. Now in the aftermath of the attack, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for an international panel to investigate the carnage and bring the lessons to the U.N.'s far-flung worldwide facilities.
Ban's appointment of an investigative panel is as well-timed as his spontaneous trip to Algeria in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Practically before the dust had settled on the ill-fated U.N. facilities in Algiers, the secretary-general was on-site and in political damage control mode, offering solidarity to stricken staff. But now his call for the international investigation hit an unexpected roadblock -- the Algerian government claims it was not consulted by the U.N. chief. Moreover, Algeria's U.N. Mission here in New York says the secretary-general failed to discuss these plans for the international investigation.
El Moudjahid, the government-controlled newspaper quoted Algeria's prime minister as complaining that the U.N. probe was a "unilateral move" by the secretary-general, and not "welcomed favorably" by the Algerian government.
Adding to this diplomatic dustup, Kemal Dervis, director of the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) said that calls for security street barriers outside the U.N. offices were ignored by the Algerian authorities, even after a spate of devastating car bombs in the coastal capital city in April. Dervis conceded that U.N. security in Algiers had been at its lowest level last year, because previous attacks in the country had targeted the government, and "at that time there was no indication that there was any targeting of the U.N."
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