WASHINGTON (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - On Sunday, a U.N. officer working with the Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) was accused of breaking Iraqi law.
Mohamed Saeed Al-Sahaf, Iraq’s foreign minister, said in a letter sent to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, that a Kenyan national, Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Jaloula has violated his duty as an international employee and broke provisions of Iraqi law.
In the letter, carried by the official Iraqi news agency INA, Sahaf confirmed that Iraqi authorities caught Jaloula on December 10th, trying to smuggle prohibited materials out of the country and across the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border.
Sahaf also said Jaloula was hiding the materials within a Mission vehicle, but did not mention what the materials consisted of.
“This act, and many others, have proved that U.N. employees are using their posts as international staff to carry out practices which they know very well are prohibited under the provisions of Iraqi law,” said Sahaf.
Since a U.S.-led multinational military coalition ousted Iraqi troops from Kuwait in 1991, UNIKOM has patrolled an demilitarized zone in the region.
