Iraqi violence on the rise

2005-03-11 11:31

Nick Wadhams

United Nations - After a brief lull, violence in Iraq has spiked again to pre-election levels, something the country's new government must address quickly, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

Both the scale and sophistication of attacks are on the rise, worrying signs as Iraq's new leaders prepare to take power, the report said.

Earlier on Thursday, a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque killed at least 47 people, and on February 28, a suicide car bomber killed 125 people, mostly Shiite police and National Guard recruits.

Iraqis will expect security and living conditions to improve now that their elections are complete, Annan said. But the government and multinational forces must tread carefully.

Concern about civilians

"Particular care should be taken by those responsible for ensuring security to see that their actions do not adversely affect the civilian population," Annan wrote in the report.

The rise in violence is troubling because many Iraqis and outsiders had expressed hope that the election would help weaken the insurgency, and were encouraged by the lull afterward.

Annan reviewed UN actions over the last three months. His report praised the peaceful nature of Iraq's January 30 election, saying the vote offered a new opportunity for Iraqis to build a democratic country.

The next step will be crafting a constitution. Annan said his special representative, Ashraf Qazi, was meeting with Iraqis to promote dialogue as they go about drafting the constitution.

It is up to the new government to make sure the population feels it can participate in the country's reconstruction.

Soon after the report was released on Thursday, Iraq's main Shiite party and a Kurdish bloc said they reached a deal that sets the stage for a new government to be formed.

The deal between the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance and a Kurdish coalition will allow a new government to be named when the National Assembly opens next week.

Annan warned of the possibility of still more strife between minority Sunnis and majority Shiites, saying it was crucial to seek reconciliation now rather than let simmering unrest boil over into a wider conflict. - AP

- SAPA