UNITED NATIONS – The nation of Fiji agreed to send troops to Iraq to serve as a security detail for the United Nations, which for months has shied from deeper involvement citing security fears. U.N. spokesperson Marie Okabe said yesterday that 130 troops will be provided by Fiji and that Australia pledged to provide most of the equipment and logistical support for the detail. U.N. officials expect the force to be deployed in mid-November.

Ms. Okabe added that the U.N. “is currently in discussion” with Washington about providing a dedicated force of “armed escorts” to the 35 U.N. officials currently in Iraq when they travel outside of their compound. In addition, the assumption now is that the American led coalition and its Iraqi allies would be responsible for the security of the Fijian force. In the past the U.N. has been cau tious about being seen as too close to the coalition, as was illustrated in an independent report on the August 2003 bombing of the U.N. Baghdad headquarters. Prior to the bombing, the report said, the U.N. requested coalition forces be removed from the U.N. compound. Last June, the Security Council called for the creation of a “distinct entity” dedicated to the protection of the U.N. At first the intention was for a nation not currently in the coalition to send a brigade of some 3,000 troops. Pakistan, Georgia, and others were mentioned as candidates, but all declined.

“We tried to raise a brigade,” Secretary-General Annan said in a Tuesday press conference in London alongside Prime Minister Blair.” We haven’t done very well. And it’s the same governments who are asking me to send in my civilian staff, who are not going to give any troops to protect them.”

There are currently only 35 U.N. officials in Baghdad, primarily helping with preparations for the elections. They are headquartered in the Diwan School inside the “Green Zone.” The Fijians are expected to become their security detail, but a brigade providing the overall security is now expected to come from the U.S.-led coalition.

“Security is absolutely essential for us to carry on reconstruction and all the wonderful plans we have for Iraq,” Mr. Annan said in London. According to one U.N. official, however, yesterday’s announcement might “help with the possibility of raising the staff numbers.”

However, the official made clear that no decision to do so has been made yet.

Some wonder if it will ever be made. A letter sent to Mr. Annan earlier this month from two unions representing 60,000 U.N. workers argued that “even the best-intentioned and executed security plans cannot guarantee the protection of U.N. staff” in Iraq. It urged Mr. Annan to decline political pressures and not send anyone else to Iraq, citing “unprecedented high level of risk to the safety and security of the staff.”

[Iraq’s government complained yesterday that the U.N. isn’t doing enough to help prepare for January elections, saying the organization has sent fewer electoral workers than it did when tiny East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia, according to the Associated Press.]