GENEVA: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called at an emotional tribute yesterday for the prosecution of those behind the “cold-blooded murder” of 22 people at the United Nations office in Baghdad one year ago.
About 150 people were injured, some for life, by the truck bomb attack, the worst on a UN civilian operation. Linked by the United States to Al Qaeda, the attack led to the withdrawal of UN international staff, who have yet to redeploy in Iraq.
“Despite active efforts on our part, and despite the ongoing investigation by the United States, we are still waiting for answers,” Annan told a ceremony attended by about 80 survivors and family members.
“However long it takes, I pray that the perpetrators are held to account and do not get away with this cold-blooded murder,” Annan said.
Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who headed the ill-fated UN mission in Iraq during the US-led occupation, was killed along with top aides.
Vieira de Mello’s mother Gilda, his French widow Annie and their adult sons Adrien and Laurent were to attend the first anniversary ceremony at the UN’s European headquarters, where Annan was to unveil a plaque to the victims.
““I want to know from the UN how this tragedy could happen, why there wasn’t more security. I want truth and justice for my son. He gave his life,” the Brazilian’s mother said.
Jordanian Islamic militant Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, whom Washington has called the leading Al Qaeda operative in Iraq, has claimed responsibility for last year’s attack. Nine Iraqis were among the 22 dead from 11 countries.
American FBI agents collected traces of explosives in the rubble, but the agency has not shared its findings, according to angry survivors and relatives.
Annan called the attack a “personal tragedy for each and every one of us”.
Among 15 UN staff killed were Nadia Younes, a U.N. veteran from Egypt who was Vieira de Mello’s chief of staff, Jean-Selim Kanaan, his French-Egyptian advisor, Fiona Watson, a political affairs officer from Scotland, and Canadian Christopher Klein-Beekman of the UN Children’s Fund.
“This was a deliberate assassination and a great loss to humanity. The institution has to ask itself in depth really why were we targeted,” said Kanaan’s widow Laura Dolci-Kanaan.
“There is a big wall of silence,” added the Italian whose son Mattia-Selim Kanaan was born three weeks before the blast.
“I want to tell my son when he is older who drove the suicide truck. I cannot imagine telling him ‘I don’t know because nobody ever told me’,” Dolci-Kanaan said. – Reuters
Last update on: 20-8-2004