Half of U.N. staff to leave Syria

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Half of U.N. staff to leave Syria

Filipino United Nations peacekeepers drive at the Kuneitra border crossing between Israel and Syria, in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights earlier in March.(Reuters)

 The United Nation said Monday it is moving about half of its 100 international staff in Syria out of the country after mortar shells were reported near the hotel housing its members.

The Damascus office of U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will be closed as part of the new measures, diplomats told the Agence France Presse news agency ahead of an official U.N. announcement. Brahimi's staff will be moved to Cairo or Lebanon.

"The United Nations has told us that this is because of the growing danger in Damascus," a U.N. diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. "There have been suicide bombs and a number of attacks very near the U.N. mission."

The United Nations has a huge humanitarian operation in Syria, aiming to feed and help more than 2 million people caught in the two-year-old conflict pitting President Bashar al-Assad against rebels fighting to oust him.

Most of the distribution work is now carried out by Syrian staff and through the Syrian Red Crescent.

A U.N spokesman however told Reuters that the United Nations will remain active in Syria.

A number of U.N. peacekeepers were abducted earlier in March by Syrian opposition fighters in the Golan Heights ceasefire zone between Israel and Syria. They were released four days later.

The act prompted U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to demand that the Syrian government and rebels respect peacekeepers' "freedom of movement and security."

26 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/25/Half-of-U-N-staff-to-leave-Syria.html
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