UN reassessing security in Iraq after attack but will persevere undaunted - Annan20 August – Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today the United Nations was reassessing security arrangements in Iraq following the terrorist attack Tuesday in Baghdad that killed top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and other officials, but vowed that the world body would persevere with its essential work there undaunted.
"We will persevere. We will continue. It is essential work. We will not be intimidated," Mr. Annan told a news conference in Stockholm on his way back to New York, where he is scheduled to brief the Security Council this afternoon after cancelling his holiday in Europe because of the bombing. So far, 16 bodies have been recovered, of whom seven have been identified, and 20 wounded UN staff members have been taken to Amman, Jordan.
"We had hoped that by now, the coalition forces would have secured the environment for us to be able to carry on," Mr. Annan said, referring to the United States-run provisional authority. "That has not happened."
The Secretary-General said the UN was reassessing its security arrangements in Iraq, adding: "Some mistakes may have been made, some wrong assumptions may have been made, but that does not excuse nor justify the kind of senseless violence that we are seeing in Iraq today. Most Iraqi people would want to get on with their lives."
"These extremists who are targeting innocent civilians are not doing their nation or the people of Iraq any service," he said.
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