The InterDependent

The United Nations mission in Iraq will have a new leader just as the U.S. military begins to wrap up its presence there.

Martin Kobler, 58, a veteran German diplomat, is set to take over as head of the mission, known formally as the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, in October, succeeding Ad Melkert of the Netherlands, who has been in Iraq since July 2009. Washington is preparing to pull out most, if not all, its troops by the end of December.

The U.S. withdrawal, whether partial or complete, will present Kobler with a major challenge early in his tenure, particularly if sectarian violence and political instability rise in the absence of foreign troops. American forces have been in Iraq since they invaded the country in March 2003, and the UN has relied heavily on them for securing its staff.

In his speech before the General Assembly last week, Jalal Talabani, the president of Iraq, said that the country would do its utmost to provide protection to the staff of the UN mission.

Kobler speaks Arabic, has extensive experience in the Middle East and is described by colleagues as a talented and tough-minded diplomat. He spent 25 years in Germany’s foreign ministry, serving from 2005 to 2007 as its ambassador to Iraq and before that as its ambassador to Egypt. Most recently, he was the UN deputy special representative (political) in Afghanistan to Staffan de Mistura, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative there. Kobler, who was responsible for electoral and parliamentary matters and other duties, had replaced Peter Galbraith of the U.S.

In taking the posting in Baghdad, he is moving from one trouble spot to another.

“It will be a very challenging task,” said Manfred Eisele, a longtime senior official in the UN peacekeeping department who is retired and also a German national. “But he will benefit especially from his prior service in Afghanistan.”

“He is not only a man with unusually broad experience, for a European, in this part of the world, but at the same time he has a reputation for being a strong-minded individual, somebody who is not easily pushed around,” Eisele said. “He will certainly be firm in the way he represents the world community of the United Nations.”

About 16 UN agencies are active in Iraq now, amounting to 1,014 staff members (463 international employees and 551 Iraqi nationals) working with an annual budget for 2011 of $209.9 million, said the mission spokeswoman, Radhia Achouri. From the beginning, the number of UN workers in Iraq has fluctuated wildly over the years, depending on the security situation. In August 2003, just five days after the Security Council created the assistance mission, most UN staffers were pulled out for an extended period when a suicide bomber blew up the UN headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 people, including the mission’s leader, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

In a resolution adopted July 28, the council reaffirmed its support for the mission’s work and authorized it to continue operating for another year, through July 2012. The council said that in assisting the Iraqi government, the mission should aim to strengthen democratic institutions; encourage inclusive political dialogue and national reconciliation, facilitate regional dialogue; resolve internal boundary disputes; aid vulnerable groups; protect human rights; and promote gender equality and judicial and legal reforms.

Besides a military contingent assigned to help provide security for the UN staff, the mission has no military or police component and is considered a political rather than a peacekeeping mission. But security - for both the Iraqis and his UN colleagues - is likely to be among Kobler’s top concerns, as it was when he served there as Germany’s ambassador.

“I never experienced anarchy before living in Iraq,” Kobler said in a March 2010 interview with the Goethe Institute [www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lp/prj/mtg/men/tie/kob/enindex.htm]. “In 2006 there was no trust, no system, nothing to give a backbone to the society. The situation had stripped people of all morality. At any moment children could be kidnapped, held for ransom, anyone might be caught in a bomb blast. It made me realize that fate alone decides if you are born into a protected childhood.”

But Kobler has so far given no public signals on his priorities. “Preparations are ongoing for Mr. Kobler’s arrival and assumption of duties. I cannot provide details at this stage as Mr. Kobler has not assumed his duties yet,” Achouri, the mission spokeswoman, said in an e-mail interview.

“But obviously he will be meeting with Iraqi officials, Iraqi political leaders, civil society and others in the course of his duties as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General. He will also be meeting with the diplomatic community and other partners of the UN assistance mission and the UN in Iraq.”

Eisele, the longtime UN official, said that Kobler’s nationality could help him win the confidence of the Iraqi people and leadership, as Iraq and Germany have long enjoyed warm ties. While the German government steered clear of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and Washington’s reconstruction efforts, German industry has been active in the country in recent years, he told The InterDependent.

“There is a very long history of close relations between Germany and that part of the world,” Eisele said. “If nationality has any meaning, it would be a positive add-on to his qualifications.”

Kobler, who was born in Stuttgart, studied law. He is married with three children.