Iraq expels five U.N. officials

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq has expelled five U.N. officials it accuses of jeopardizing its security. The United Nations said Iraq failed to substantiate the claims, but that the officials were withdrawn for safety reasons. \nAn Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman, speaking Wednesday on condition of anonymity, accused the five officials, four Nigerians and a Bosnian, of "jeopardizing the security and the integrity of Iraq." \nHe said Iraq "has the evidence of their involvement in activities inconsistent with their assigned responsibilities as U.N employees." He did not elaborate. \nAll five officials worked in the U.N. office that oversees humanitarian programs in Iraq, which is allowed to sell oil despite decade-old U.N. sanctions but must use most of the proceeds for humanitarian needs. \nThe United Nations monitors Iraq's oil sales and the use of the proceeds to buy food, medicine and other necessities for ordinary Iraqis. Iraq chafes at the oil-for-food program as a violation of its independence. \nIn a letter to Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, the head of the U.N. Iraq program said Iraq should have provided detailed evidence on its accusations to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press. \n"I very much regret that despite our request, the government of Iraq has not provided any detail or supporting evidence to charges leveled against the five staff members," wrote the U.N. official, Benon Sevan. He said the United Nations had received Iraq's protest against the five on Sunday. \n"I should like to reassure you that all United Nations personnel are clearly instructed to carry out all the tasks entrusted to them in full compliance with the mandate of the humanitarian program in Iraq" under U.N. Security Council resolutions, Sevan wrote to Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed al-Dhouri. \nBut Sevan said he decided the four Nigerians should leave Iraq for reasons of "safety and security." The fifth official, a Bosnian woman, was not in Iraq when the expulsion order was delivered. \nThe U.N. office in Baghdad said the Nigerians left Baghdad on Tuesday, and a U.N. official in neighboring Jordan said some of them were in the capital, Amman, on Wednesday. They refused to speak to reporters.