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World Leaders Strongly Condemn Brussels Attacks

by VOA News March 22, 2016

The deadly explosions in Brussels Tuesday have drawn strong condemnation from leaders around the world.

In a televised statement from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO stands with its ally Belgium "on this dark day."

He said this "cowardly" act with a "heavy" and "tragic" human toll is an attack on democratic values and open societies, adding that "terrorism will not defeat democracy and take away our freedoms."

European Union Council President Donald Tusk said he was appalled by the attacks and offered Europe's support.

Tusk said that "these attacks mark another low by the terrorists in the service of hatred and violence," adding that the EU "will fulfill its role to help Brussels, Belgium and Europe as a whole counter the terror threat" they are facing.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini cut short a news conference in Jordan Tuesday after saying that "today is a difficult day."

French President Francois Hollande said after a crisis meeting in Paris that "terrorists struck Brussels, but "the whole Europe has been hit."

Still recovering from Paris attacks

France is still recovering from a series of terrorist attacks that rocked Paris last November. The main suspect of those attacks was arrested last week in Maelbeek, Brussels.

Following an emergency cabinet meeting in London, British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the blasts and said that Europe should stand together against the terror threat. "We will never let these terrorists win," Cameron said at his Downing Street office.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff Peter Altmaier called for solidarity with Belgium, writing on Twitter that "terrorists will never win." He added that "our European values [are] much stronger than hate, violence, terror!"

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the West's politics of "double standards" have led to terrorist attacks and that frozen diplomatic relations between NATO and Russia have slowed the fight against terrorism. The Kremlin, however, offered its condolences and expressed solidarity with Belgium after the attacks Tuesday.