Supplementary memorandum from the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office
IRAQ: SECURITY OF UK PERSONNEL
WHAT STEPS
ARE BEING
TAKEN TO
PROVIDE SECURITY
FOR FCO STAFF
IN IRAQ?
1. FCO staff in Iraq are operating under
difficult and dangerous conditions. The security of FCO staff
working for the British Office in Baghdad, and of the FCO and
other civilian staff seconded to the Coalition Provisional Authority
(CPA) is of paramount concern. In line with our duty of care,
we are conscious of the need to provide them with the security
assets, advice and management structures to enable them to carry
out their vital work while managing the risks involved in working
in Baghdad.
2. We are therefore providing an extensive
range of security measures to enable them to carry out their duties
in safety. These include armoured vehicles, armed protection teams,
and (for the Prime Minister's Special Representative and the Head
of the British Office Baghdad) full Royal Military Police Close
Protection teams. Our security experts are constantly reviewing
these measures in the light of current assessments which suggest
that the security climate is likely to remain very unstable, and
that further attacks on CPA, as well as other foreign, targets
will be mounted. It was on their advice that we decided to rehouse
the British Office Baghdad temporarily in the secure area of the
CPA.
3. The provision of these security measures
has a significant resource cost, both in staff and financial terms,
for which we have made a claim on the Treasury Reserve. Negotiations
between the FCO and HM Treasury on the details of this claim are
continuing.
WHAT EMBASSY
AND OTHER
SERVICES ARE
THE FCO CURRENTLY
ABLE TO
PROVIDE IN
IRAQ?
4. Consular services in Iraq are limited,
in what are still very difficult circumstances. Over the last
two months consular activity has included assistance in the repatriation
of three British citizens who were either killed or died in Iraq,
including the repatriation of the body of Fiona Watson, the UN
official tragically killed in the bombing of the UN headquarters
In Baghdad on 19 August. We have also provided assistance to a
UK journalist, mistakenly shot by the US military, and a British
national who was detained by US forces in Northern Iraq but subsequently
released. We have also assisted efforts by British nationals to
trace missing relatives in Iraq.
5. The British Office, Baghdad is not issuing
passports. Instead, the Consular Section of our Embassy in Amman
continues to receive and process applications. In the event of
a British national in Basra, or the south of Iraq urgently requiring
a replacement passport, we would investigate on each occasion
with staff in our Embassy in Kuwait whether they could handle
such cases.
6. Nor are we handling birth and death registrations
in Baghdad. Death registrations are being undertaken in London
by the FCO's Consular Directorate. Birth registrations, should
a request be received, would also be handled in London.
7. Currently, the British Office, Baghdad
has one UK-based officer (with an additional staff member set
to arrive shortly) and one locally engaged employee whose responsibilities
include consular assistance. The British Office is also aiming
to recruit additional locally engaged staff for this purpose.
WHAT ADVICE
AND SECURITY
ARRANGEMENTS ARE
THE FCO PROVIDING
FOR OTHER
BRITISH CIVILIAN
PERSONNEL IN
IRAQ?
8. British civilians who travel to Iraq
for commercial or other reasons are referred to our travel advice
pages. We advise against all but the most essential travel to
Iraq. The security situation in Iraq remains dangerous. We state
that we continue to receive information that indicates that terrorists
are actively targeting UK and US interests in Iraq. The threat
to British nationals remains high. We have pointed out that this
includes "soft targets" associated with the CPA, such
as NGO contractors or British/western flagged organisations.
9. We advise that British citizens should
only consider visiting Iraq if they have strong commercial or
professional reasons to do so. Companies with planned involvement
in reconstruction projects in Iraq are advised to contact the
Iraq Unit at Trade Partners UK.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
September 2003
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