The United Nations intends to open two offices outside of Baghdad following pressure from Washington and Iraqi authorities to provide more help before Jan. 30 elections, officials said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear, however, whether the plans to open new offices in Basra in southern Iraq and Erbil in the north involved an increase in the number of U.N. international staff to be based in the country or merely a geographic expansion of the U.N. aid mission. The U.N. ceiling for international staff in Iraq had been 59 at the start of the week, including 25 election experts when Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Samir Shakir Sumaidaie, complained to the Security Council that more U.N. help was needed. U.N. chief spokesman Fred Eckhard said the ceiling was being raised to "something closer to 200" to accommodate the imminent deployment of up to 150 troops from Fiji to guard U.N. staff and facilities. But he could not say at this time whether the new ceiling would also accommodate new staff being sent to Basra or Erbil or merely a relocation of staff now in Baghdad. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was expected to discuss staffing in Iraq on Thursday while in Washington for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.
