20 August 2003
Security Council Vows to Continue U.N.'s Work in Iraq
Negroponte says U.S. will discuss possible new Security Council resolution
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- After observing a minute of silence for those who died in Baghdad in the pursuit of peace, the Security Council August 20 "unequivocally condemned" the terrorist attack on U.N. headquarters and vowed to continue to help the Iraqi people build peace and justice in their country.
After an hour-long private meeting with Secretary General Kofi Annan to discuss the August 19 bombing that killed 17 and injured hundreds, the Security Council went into a public session to adopt a formal statement that was a combination of condemnation, sympathy, and determination. In the park outside U.N. Headquarters hundreds of staff members held a candlelight vigil.
"The Security Council unequivocally condemns the terrorist attack that took place on 19 August 2003 against the U.N. Headquarters in Baghdad and thereby against the international community as a whole, causing numerous deaths and injuries among international personnel and Iraqi people," the council said in its statement read by Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe of Syria, president of the council for August.
"The Security Council condemns also in the strongest terms the perpetrators of such an attack and underlines the need to bring them to justice," the statement said.
Most important, the council reaffirmed its "determination to assist the Iraqi people to build peace and justice in their country and to determine their own political future by themselves." The council "welcomes ... the determination of the United Nations to continue its operation in Iraq to fulfill its mandate in the service of the Iraqi people, and will not be intimidated by such attacks," the statement concluded.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte announced after the meeting that Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet with Annan August 21 to discuss the security situation and the possibility of a new resolution on Iraq.
Negroponte said that "there is a lot of reflection and assessment as to what else might be done to deal with the many challenges that are faced in Iraq and one of the possibilities that is being seriously thought about is the possibility of another U.N. Security Council resolution."
But the ambassador added that the United States "does not have any specific proposal to put on the table at the moment."
"This is one of the issues that we are going to be exchanging views on with colleagues in days ahead. But it is going to be in terms of what are the challenges we face and what further can the council do in order to face up to these challenges," he said.
In early July there had been talk of a resolution sought by some nations as a condition to contributing troops to the coalition force, but Negroponte said at that time that the United States felt that resolution 1483, passed in May, provided a sufficient basis for other nations' involvement in Iraq.
The United States has been "and continues to be a strong supporter of the United Nations," the ambassador said. "We have felt all along that the United Nations should play a vital role in Iraq in helping to restore its sovereignty and to build up its economy."
"We're gratified by the determination that the secretary general has expressed for the United Nations to continue its vital mission in the country of Iraq," Negroponte said.
Prior to the Security Council meeting the secretary general taped a message to U.N. staff around the world and the people of Iraq saying: "We will not be deterred. We will go on doing whatever we can to help build a better future for the Iraqi people."
Calling August 19 "the darkest day in our lives at the United Nations" and saying that the tragedy "feels like a nightmare from which we are still hoping to wake," Annan stressed that "only by carrying on with our mission can we begin to do justice to the memory of our slain colleagues."
"We have lost irreplaceable colleagues who went to Iraq with no other mission than to help the people of that country regain their full sovereignty and independence, under leaders of their own choosing. Those colleagues have been murdered, for reasons we will never understand ... by an act so savage and senseless that we can hardly believe it really happened," Annan said.
In its statement the Security Council also paid tribute to and expressed its "deepest admiration" for the U.N. personnel who died or were injured.
At the time of the meeting the United Nations confirmed nine deaths: U.N. Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello of Brazil; Rick Hooper (United States) of the Department of Political Affairs; Ranillo Buenaventura (Philippines) and Martha Teas (United States) of the Office of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs; Chris Klein-Beckman (Canada) of UNICEF; and Nadia Younes (Egypt), Marilyn Manuel (Philippines), Jean-Selim Kanaan (Egypt) and Fiona Watson (United Kingdom) of the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=August&x=20030820230135relhcie5.929202E-02&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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