A group of international staff members of the United Nations left Baghdad on Friday, a day after Secretary General Kofi Annan called for the action from New York.

A convoy of a dozen cargo trucks and the UN trademark blue jeeps left the Canal Hotel headquarters late Friday, moving on its way to the Jordanian borders, a Xinhua correspondent reported.

UN spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said earlier that some 30 of the86 expatriate personnel still working in Iraq would pull out according to their boss' decision.

But she insisted that the United Nations would not abandon Iraq. "Security in Iraq is really a concern for us but we are committed to work with the Iraqi population," said Taveau.

"As soon as the situation improves in Iraq, we will ask them to come back but we have still some international staff here and we are working," she added.

The fresh move was made after the UN headquarters suffered two suicide bombings in five weeks, during which 23 people were killed including the top UN envoy for Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello.

After a reassessment of the security situation in Iraq, the secretary general "ordered a temporary redeployment of UN international staff," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said Thursday in New York.

Eckhard also stressed that "this is not an evacuation, just a further downsizing."

Before the deadly truck bombing on Aug. 19, there were said to be 300 foreign staff members working in the war-torn country.

Many UN projects have been slowed down since then because of security concerns, and the staff have been working in tents and trailers outside their bombed office.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2003)