Letter: Costly failures of immature UN

Sir: Your feature 'The UN: more harm than good' (16 July) raised many pertinent issues about the role of the UN in the highly visible hotspots of Bosnia and Somalia, where it has both a military and a humanitarian component. This is where the muddle arises and where the immaturity of the UN places the lives of aid workers at risk.

On 1 February my partner, Tony Bullard, was brutally murdered, along with three others, while on an official UN mission in Afghanistan. He had worked for 10 years with Voluntary Service Overseas, Intermediate Technology Development Group and Oxfam prior to joining the UN. He lost his life, aged 34, because the assassins or their paymasters had lost respect for the UN.

In Afghanistan the UN was seen to be identified with a deteriorating political situation. In the context of international Islamic militancy, in one of the poorest countries in the world, Afghans and their Arab mercenary brothers do not vent their anger at the decision-makers safe in their air-conditioned offices. No, they shoot to kill; unable or unwilling to recognise that humanitarian aid workers are different: the UN is the UN.

The precedent for the murder of aid workers has already been set in Afghanistan, where the UN does not have a military role. How much greater the potential for disaster where it does. In Somalia and Bosnia, it is not only UN aid workers who are vulnerable but also the staff of the voluntary agencies who look to the UN for protection. Differences between them clearly demonstrate what happens when experienced aid workers, who have their ears firmly to the ground, try to voice their concerns. They are seen as interfering nuisances.

Those in the corridors of power need to do more listening. Their vision is obscured by the murky confusion of militarism and humanitarianism. The irony is that aid workers often have more understanding of local sentiments. The tragedy is that they are also more vulnerable. The scandal is that

the UN is becoming increasingly

responsible.

Yours faithfully,

SUE EMMOTT

London, N1

17 July