BAGHDAD, 23 August 2003 — The body of slain UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello was flown out of Baghdad yesterday amid warnings from UN chief Kofi Annan that US hopes of a new resolution on troop reinforcements in Iraq would be difficult to reach.
Claims also surfaced that the UN had spurned a US offer of greater protection for the UN headquarters in the Iraqi capital bombed on Tuesday, as the US Army reported the death of two more soldiers in Iraq and a previously unknown Islamist group claimed to have captured two American troops.
A Brazilian air force jet carrying Vieira de Mello’s body left Baghdad airport for Geneva after mourners, including US civil administrator for Iraq Paul Bremer and members of the US-appointed Iraqi transitional governing council, paid their last respects to the diplomat. “We will not be deterred by any act of terrorism,” Bremer said. “The rebuilding of Iraq by Iraqi people will go on. It’s not going to be stopped by this act or any such act.”
In New York, the United States said it would pursue a new UN Security Council resolution to entice other nations to contribute troops to the stabilization effort despite the risk of reigniting the fierce battle over the legitimacy of the war, US officials said.
UN Secretary General Annan said such a new resolution would be difficult to reach unless Washington eased its opposition to ceding any control over the security operation.
In Baghdad, both UN and US officials have acknowledged that investigators suspect the bombers had inside help from Iraqi guards in carrying out the attack, which also left more than 100 wounded.
“The Americans knew that there was a threat against the UN — a serious threat. They proposed to reinforce the security network around the Canal Hotel,” a European diplomat said yesterday. “And the proposal was turned down by a UN officer.”
And two bodyguards of Vieira de Mello — Gabriel Pichon and Alain Chergeui — also said in a report published by the French newspaper Le Monde that the people who plotted the attack probably had inside help. But a senior UN health official who had a narrow escape from the bombing said security at the UN compound had been stepped up before the attack. Annan conceded mistakes were made all around before the attack but pointed the finger at coalition forces for failing to provide enough security in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq.
But even UN officials acknowledged yesterday that security at the Baghdad compound had been fatally compromised.
“They clearly had support from Iraqi security guards inside who gave intelligence to the planners of the attack,” one UN official said.
Yesterday, yet another shadowy group calling itself Fukat Al-Madinah Al-Munawwara, or Madinah Faction, surfaced on an Arab TV station claiming it had captured two US soldiers in Iraq.
Lebanon’s LBCI satellite television, which reported the claim by the previously unknown Islamist group, showed what it said were photocopies of Katherine V. Rose and Andrew Peters’ military identity cards. The group said the two had been taken in a clash in which two US soldiers were also wounded.
But a US defense official in Washington, who asked not to be identified, said the two soldiers had been accounted for.
Naseer Al-Nahr
Asharq Al-Awsat
BAGHDAD — The body of slain UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello was flown out of Baghdad yesterday amid warnings from UN chief Kofi Annan that US hopes of a new resolution on troop reinforcements in Iraq would be difficult to reach.
Claims also surfaced that the UN had spurned a US offer of greater protection for the UN headquarters in the Iraqi capital bombed on Tuesday, as the US Army reported the death of two more soldiers in Iraq and a previously unknown Islamist group claimed to have captured two American troops.
A Brazilian air force jet carrying Vieira de Mello’s body left Baghdad airport for Geneva after mourners, including US civil administrator for Iraq Paul Bremer and members of the US-appointed Iraqi transitional governing council, paid their last respects to the diplomat. “We will not be deterred by any act of terrorism,” Bremer said. “The rebuilding of Iraq by Iraqi people will go on. It’s not going to be stopped by this act or any such act.”
In New York, the United States said it would pursue a new UN Security Council resolution to entice other nations to contribute troops to the stabilization effort despite the risk of reigniting the fierce battle over the legitimacy of the war, US officials said.
UN Secretary General Annan said such a new resolution would be difficult to reach unless Washington eased its opposition to ceding any control over the security operation.
In Baghdad, both UN and US officials have acknowledged that investigators suspect the bombers had inside help from Iraqi guards in carrying out the attack, which also left more than 100 wounded.
“The Americans knew that there was a threat against the UN — a serious threat. They proposed to reinforce the security network around the Canal Hotel,” a European diplomat said yesterday. “And the proposal was turned down by a UN officer.”
And two bodyguards of Vieira de Mello — Gabriel Pichon and Alain Chergeui — also said in a report published by the French newspaper Le Monde that the people who plotted the attack probably had inside help. But a senior UN health official who had a narrow escape from the bombing said security at the UN compound had been stepped up before the attack. Annan conceded mistakes were made all around before the attack but pointed the finger at coalition forces for failing to provide enough security in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq.
But even UN officials acknowledged yesterday that security at the Baghdad compound had been fatally compromised.
“They clearly had support from Iraqi security guards inside who gave intelligence to the planners of the attack,” one UN official said.
Yesterday, yet another shadowy group calling itself Fukat Al-Madinah Al-Munawwara, or Madinah Faction, surfaced on an Arab TV station claiming it had captured two US soldiers in Iraq.
Lebanon’s LBCI satellite television, which reported the claim by the previously unknown Islamist group, showed what it said were photocopies of Katherine V. Rose and Andrew Peters’ military identity cards. The group said the two had been taken in a clash in which two US soldiers were also wounded.
But a US defense official in Washington, who asked not to be identified, said the two soldiers had been accounted for.
Naseer Al-Nahr
Asharq Al-Awsat
BAGHDAD — The body of slain UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello was flown out of Baghdad yesterday amid warnings from UN chief Kofi Annan that US hopes of a new resolution on troop reinforcements in Iraq would be difficult to reach.
Claims also surfaced that the UN had spurned a US offer of greater protection for the UN headquarters in the Iraqi capital bombed on Tuesday, as the US Army reported the death of two more soldiers in Iraq and a previously unknown Islamist group claimed to have captured two American troops.
A Brazilian air force jet carrying Vieira de Mello’s body left Baghdad airport for Geneva after mourners, including US civil administrator for Iraq Paul Bremer and members of the US-appointed Iraqi transitional governing council, paid their last respects to the diplomat. “We will not be deterred by any act of terrorism,” Bremer said. “The rebuilding of Iraq by Iraqi people will go on. It’s not going to be stopped by this act or any such act.”
In New York, the United States said it would pursue a new UN Security Council resolution to entice other nations to contribute troops to the stabilization effort despite the risk of reigniting the fierce battle over the legitimacy of the war, US officials said.
UN Secretary General Annan said such a new resolution would be difficult to reach unless Washington eased its opposition to ceding any control over the security operation.
In Baghdad, both UN and US officials have acknowledged that investigators suspect the bombers had inside help from Iraqi guards in carrying out the attack, which also left more than 100 wounded.
“The Americans knew that there was a threat against the UN — a serious threat. They proposed to reinforce the security network around the Canal Hotel,” a European diplomat said yesterday. “And the proposal was turned down by a UN officer.”
And two bodyguards of Vieira de Mello — Gabriel Pichon and Alain Chergeui — also said in a report published by the French newspaper Le Monde that the people who plotted the attack probably had inside help. But a senior UN health official who had a narrow escape from the bombing said security at the UN compound had been stepped up before the attack. Annan conceded mistakes were made all around before the attack but pointed the finger at coalition forces for failing to provide enough security in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq.
But even UN officials acknowledged yesterday that security at the Baghdad compound had been fatally compromised.
“They clearly had support from Iraqi security guards inside who gave intelligence to the planners of the attack,” one UN official said.
Yesterday, yet another shadowy group calling itself Fukat Al-Madinah Al-Munawwara, or Madinah Faction, surfaced on an Arab TV station claiming it had captured two US soldiers in Iraq.
Lebanon’s LBCI satellite television, which reported the claim by the previously unknown Islamist group, showed what it said were photocopies of Katherine V. Rose and Andrew Peters’ military identity cards. The group said the two had been taken in a clash in which two US soldiers were also wounded.
But a US defense official in Washington, who asked not to be identified, said the two soldiers had been accounted for.
