DUBAI: Two hundred UN staff will be relocated to Dubai from Afghanistan after five of its staff was killed in an ambush in the capital Kabul. A first batch of 25 officials arrived last night and will be based in the International Humanitarian City (IHC) in Dubai, IHC sources confirmed yesterday.
The IHC responded to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's request for assistance in providing facilities for UN staff, after he announced half of international workers from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) would be relocated from Kabul for security reasons.
He ordered the temporary relocation of staff in Kabul, after five workers were killed in a pre-dawn attack on a guesthouse in the capital last week.
The Dubai government is facilitating the rapid provision of accommodation and ancillary services for the inbound UN staff.
"The IHC is pleased to host and assist our UN colleagues from Kabul after this terrible assault. Our hearts go out to the families of those killed. The number of attacks on humanitarian workers has escalated in the last few years and we must all work with the UN to find more effective ways to counter this disturbing trend and provide better support to all the victims," said UN Messenger of Peace and chairperson of the IHC Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, who is also the wife of the Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Half of the 1,200 UN international staff in Afghanistan are being moved to secure locations outside the country, or to safer areas within the country, for at least three weeks. The Taliban’s attack on UN staff is the most direct since aid agencies set up in Afghanistan decades ago. Temporary offices will be set up at the International Humanitarian City with assistance from the UN World Food Programme, which has a permanent presence at the IHC. The Government of Dubai has arranged for counseling and dedicated medical and personal assistance for evacuated staff.
