Iraq has refused to give visas to nearly three hundred United Nations staff recruited to work on humanitarian projects in the north of the country, reported BBC.online Thursday.
The director of the UN humanitarian program in Iraq, Benon Sevan, was quoted by BBC as saying the applications had been delayed for so long that he now considered them to have been rejected.
Iraq has told the UN that foreign personnel shouldn't be recruited when Iraqis could do the jobs, said the news service.
Baghdad is thought to be concerned about mine-clearance specialists with military backgrounds working in sensitive areas, said the BBC.
UN projects in northern Iraq are funded by the organization’s oil-for-food program, which permits the sale of Iraqi oil to pay for food and services – Albawaba.com
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