Remembering

Today marks the fifth year of the truck bomb attack against the United Nations office in Baghdad which took the lives of 22 people, including the United Nations envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and wounded more than 150.

Professor Samantha Power of Harvard University writes on the NY Time today that, five years after the UN compound in Baghdad was bombed — and less than a week after Taliban forces in Afghanistan killed three female educators and a driver with the International Rescue Committee — the individuals who carry out vital humanitarian and development work for the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations have never been more at risk. When the host country ignores requests for high-level security assistance, as Algeria did last year, the United Nations should be prepared to suspend its programs or to withdraw altogether.

Meanwhile Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, is currently on his first trip abroad since the International Criminal Court moved to indict him for war crimes. He has denied that his forces had committed genocide in Darfur and Sudan has warned the United Nations of "serious consequences" for its staff and facilities if an arrest warrant is issued. So far, these threats have resulted in a reduction of Military and Police personnel in Darfur while the ceilings for aid workers have not been touched. I hope I am proved wrong but shit ain't gonna stop anytime soon I am afraid.