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Concern over security in Iraq
20/08/2003 15:26 - (SA)
Paris - World outrage over the devastating bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad was accompanied on Wednesday by growing fears about the deteriorating security situation in Iraq even as Kofi Annan vowed that the United Nations will not abandon the war-battered nation.
The UN secretary general, flying back to New York to attend a UN security council meeting, said in Stockholm that the United Nations would not be deterred by a "senseless act of terrorism" from continuing its work in Iraq.
US President George W Bush also vowed that the attack would not stop his administration's resolve to rebuild the nation, which has descended into chaos since the United States officially declared the end of major combat on May 1.
"The civilized world will not be intimidated and these killers will not determine the future of Iraq," Bush said.
Many commentators said the truck bombing in which at least 24 people were killed, including the top UN representative in Baghdad, Sergio Vieira de Mello, highlighted the need for a greater rather than a reduced UN presence in Iraq. World must unite
In Madrid, the daily El Pais called for a new security council resolution that would "transform the occupation (of Iraq) by the Americans into a collective enterprise at international level that would legitimise the reconstruction of the country."
A similar view was expressed by Vieira de Mello's predecessor as UN human rights chief, Mary Robinson, who said: "The world must rally - and not just the coalition and occupation forces that are in Iraq at the moment."
Calling for a new UN resolution on Iraq, she told BBC radio that there had to be "a real desire to change the terms on the ground in Iraq and I believe it can only be done by a strong leadership UN mandate and a wide presence on the ground."
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who is flying to New York for talks on Thursday, said both London and Washington were open-minded about giving the United Nations, whose mission is confined to humanitarian aid, a greater security role in Iraq.
Walter Schwimmer, secretary general of the Council Europe, said Iraq's future "could only be constructed under the authority of the United Nations, the cornerstone of international legitimacy." UN vows to find those responsible
At the site of the blast on Tuesday, Iraq's US overseer, Paul Bremer, vowed to find those responsible.
"This is an awful time. We will leave no stone unturned to find the people who did this," Bremer said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for what US authorities said bore the signs of a suicide attack.
The attack "is a bloody reminder that the epicenter of the global war on terror is now Iraq," and validates the link between toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda network, The Wall Street Journal said. Dispatch of Japanese troop like delayed While the United States is seeking more support for its reconstruction efforts in Iraq, two leading Japanese newspapers, Asahi and Yomiuri, said the bombing was likely to delay the dispatch of 1 000 Japanese military personnel authorised by parliament last month.
Senior US senator Richard Lugar on Wednesday called on Turkey to send troops to Iraq to help with security, although Ankara has yet to decide and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said the bombing would not affect its decision.
Romania, which has pledged 700 military personnel to stabilisation operations in Iraq, said it would not be deterred by an action that it said was intended to delay the time when Iraq becomes a democratic state. Meaning of attack
Opinions differed about the meaning of the attack, but many editorialists said it was clearly aimed as much as the United States as the world community.
"It was an indirect and bloody insult from the invisible Saddam Hussein to President George W Bush," said La Repubblica in Rome. It was an attempt to show "that the Americans are useless occupiers, who cannot guarantee public order."
The attack showed "that anarchy rules in Iraq, no less today that on the day that American troops entered Baghdad," said Munich daily Suddeutsche Zeitung.
The Middle East press said the attack should strengthen the resolve to end the US-British occupation and efforts to empower the Iraqi people. 'A warning'
"The explosion which targeted the UN headquarters only serves to maintain chaos in Iraq, by expelling from that country the UN delegation, whose mission is to help the Iraqi people rebuild their institutions," said Emirati newspaper Al-Khaleej.
In Paris, the daily Liberation said said the attack was "a warning to the international community at a time when the Americans may be tempted to discharge some of their burden on the shoulders of the United Nations, which until now has been limited to managing humanitarian aid."
In London, The Independent said the attack "seems to be part of an increasingly violent and deliberately targeted pattern of terrorism aimed at making the outside administration of the country more and more impossible." Regret over Vieira de Mello
Another major theme in world comment was regret for the loss of Vieira de Mello, whose career took him to trouble spots ranging from Bosnia and Kosovo to East Timor.
Countries across Asia joined with Vieira de Mello's colleagues in mourning the man who had shepherded East Timor to independence and helped hundreds of thousands of refugees across the continent return to their homelands.
"He died for us like a militant, not an international civil servant - a militant for peace and human rights," said Bernard Kouchner, who succeeded Vieira de Mello at the head of the UN administration in Kosovo in 1999.
- AFP
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