Iraq Orders Expulsion of Five U.N. Officials

Iraq has accused five U.N. officials of spying for the United States and ordered them expelled from the country.

The United Nations said Wednesday that Iraq had failed to substantiate its claim that the officials of the humanitarian “oil-for-food” program were “jeopardizing the security and the integrity of Iraq.” But U.N. security officials decided Tuesday to withdraw the staff members to ensure their safety.

The five U.N. officials--four Nigerians and a Bosnian--were overseeing a U.N. program that allows Iraq to sell oil and use the money for mainly humanitarian needs, a loophole in otherwise strict sanctions imposed on the country for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Three of the Nigerian workers left Baghdad on Tuesday. The other Nigerian was out of the country on leave and the Bosnian had already been reassigned when the expulsion order came, a U.N. spokesman said Wednesday.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry declared the officials personae non gratae in a note sent Sunday to the United Nations. “This is due to their performing of activities that infringe on the national security of the Republic of Iraq, which are inconsistent with their assigned responsibilities,” the letter says.

Iraq’s ambassador to the U.N., Mohammed Douri, said Wednesday that those activities included “spying for another big country--the United States.”

The details of the charges had not been released, he said, but he insisted that Iraq had “very good proof. Otherwise, they would not have accused them of jeopardizing national security.”

Four of the five Baghdad-based staff members worked for a U.N. observation unit that analyzes quality and distribution of humanitarian supplies, U.N. officials said. The fifth was a legal advisor for the U.N. program.

Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told Iraqi television Wednesday that international accords provide immunity and privileges only for U.N. staff who act according to their defined assignments.

The United Nations has not received any evidence from Iraq concerning its accusations, said Hasmik Egian, a spokeswoman for the U.N. oil-for-food program. The Security Council will discuss the matter today but is not expected to take any action beyond a possible statement of condemnation.

Iraq has long chafed at the restrictions placed on it by the U.N., which controls revenue from Iraqi oil sales, doling out payments only for food, medicine and other necessities.

The expulsions are the latest in a series of actions by Iraq against the oil-for-food program and the U.N. workers who administer it. In July, Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Riyadh Qaysi delivered a scathing two-hour denunciation of the program to the U.N. Security Council, saying it was a violation of his nation’s independence and accusing the U.N. of kickbacks and corruption.

The five officials were among 180 U.N. staff members working in the oil-for-food program, most in the south and central areas of the country. The U.N. has nearly 900 personnel in Iraq administering aid programs that range from removing land mines to improving the health of children.

In 1997, the U.S. removed six weapons inspectors from Iraq after Baghdad said it would not accept American “spies” on the U.N. team. In December 1998, the remaining U.N. inspectors withdrew from the country in advance of British-U.S. airstrikes.

Since then, a staff member from New Zealand left after being accused of planting locust eggs to undermine Iraq’s agriculture. Earlier this year, the U.N. withdrew a peacekeeper charged with smuggling whiskey.