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Envelope found in U.N. cafeteria prompts evacuation

19 February 2010 04:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The U.N. cafeteria was evacuated on Thursday when a suspicious envelope was found, officials said, amid increased security precautions ahead of a session on Haiti with former U.S. President Bill Clinton, APA reports citing Reuters.

"A suspicious envelope was found in the cafeteria. In response they have closed the cafeteria and that area has been contained," said U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq.

"The (U.N.) Department of Safety and Security is working with the host country to investigate the matter."

A New York City police spokesman, Marc Nell, said a call had been made to the police about a suspicious white powder in the ground-floor cafeteria. U.N. officials, however, did not mention powder.

A scheduled appearance at the United Nations by Clinton, U.N. envoy to earthquake-ravaged Haiti, was pushed back from 4 p.m. to around 5 p.m., U.N. officials said, because of security precautions surrounding the cafeteria evacuation.

Last November, the U.N. missions of Austria, France, Germany and Uzbekistan received letters with an unidentified white powder, which was later found to be harmless.

U.S. authorities have been on alert for mail with white powder in it since 2001, when envelopes laced with anthrax were sent to media outlets and U.S. lawmakers, killing five people.