( dpa ) - An international panel will assess safeguards for UN personnel working around the world after the UN office in Algiers was blown up last month by suicide bombers, killing 17 staff members, a UN spokesperson said Monday.
The panel was being created by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to determine what can be done to strengthen protective measures for UN premises and staff, said Michelle Montas.
An interim report was written by the top UN safety and security chief David Veness on the Algiers attack, but it was found that the report did not go far enough, Montas said. She said the new panel will be assisted by international experts from outside the UN system.
The UN said there was no advanced warning about the twin attacks against the office of the UN Development Programme in Algiers, which also housed other agencies like the UN Children's Fund and World Food Programme.
The attacks on December 11 killed 14 Algerians, one Dane, one Filipino and one Senegalese, all of them UN staff. A total of 40 people were injured.
It was the second deadliest attack on the UN since August, 2003, when the office of the UN mission in Baghdad was bombed, killing a total of 22 UN personnel, including the mission's chief Sergio Vieira de Mello. dpa tn cc