United Nations and World leaders denounces Terrorist Attacks on Shiite Muslims in Iraq and Pakistan by Reuters / United Nations News 10:43am 3rd Mar, 2004   2 March 2004 (United Nations News Service)    Condemning today’s terrorist attacks in Iraq and Pakistan that have left scores dead or injured, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he is particularly appalled they took place around Muslim shrines during the holy occasion of Ashura.    In a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr. Annan urged Iraqis “to refrain from acts that could undermine efforts to achieve national reconciliation at this delicate stage of the country’s political situation.” He also reiterated that all Iraqis should work toward building political consensus and national reconciliation.    Reacting also to today’s attack on an Ashura procession in the Pakistani city of Quetta, Mr. Annan said he was “similarly appalled” and voiced condemnation of the “cowardly” offensive.    The Secretary-General offered his condolences to the families of the victims, noting that “all terrorist acts, whatever their justifications, are morally reprehensible and wholly indefensible.”    Asked by reporters whether the UN believed the Iraq bombings were part of a plan by some people to pit Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims against each other, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said “we would like to think…that the attacks are politically motivated and not based on religion, or not solely based on religion.”    The bombings of shrines in Karbala and Baghdad in Iraq and the fatal shooting of participants in the procession in Quetta have also been denounced by the Security Council and the Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.    Ambassador Jean Marc de la Sabličre of France, Security Council President for March, described the attacks as horrendous. Speaking to reporters in New York, he added that the Council condemned attempts to divide Muslims against each other.    2 March 2004    Acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan said he was shocked and horrified at the bombings in Iraq today that killed and wounded scores of people during the Ashura festival.    "It is inconceivable that anyone would commit such barbaric crimes", said Mr. Ramcharan. "Once again, terrorists have demonstrated their absolute disregard for life and all other human rights. Nothing can justify these attacks and all must be done to bring those responsible to justice in line with international norms".    Mr. Ramcharan said the bombers must not be allowed to succeed in their assault on religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence in Iraq. Recalling that Iraq's Governing Council has just agreed a "fundamental law" that, among other rights, recognizes the freedom of religion, he said, "I sincerely hope the attacks will not make it more difficult to carry out the essential work of laying down a human rights infrastructure in the country. Indeed, they make that task all the more important".    Mr. Ramcharan conveyed his condolences to the families of the victims.    02 Mar 2004    "Iraq attacks could undermine hand-over, Annan says"     UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned Iraqis on Tuesday that the deadly attacks on Shi'ite worshipers in Baghdad and Kerbala could undermine the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty set to take place by June 30.    Annan was "particularly appalled that these incidents took place in and around Muslim shrines during the holy occasion of Ashura," his chief spokesman, Fred Eckhard, said.    Coordinated suicide bombs and mortars tore into huge crowds of Shi'ite worshipers on Tuesday in Baghdad and Kerbala, killing at least 170 people and wounding over 400 on Iraq's bloodiest day since the fall of Saddam Hussein.    "The secretary-general urges all Iraqis to refrain from acts that could undermine efforts to achieve national reconciliation at this delicate stage of the country's political situation," Eckhard told reporters.    "He reiterates that Iraqis from all segments of society should work toward building political consensus and national reconciliation in a peaceful environment," he said.    The U.N. Security Council, in a separate statement, condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the attacks in Iraq, saying they had "the sole and deliberate purpose of exacerbating tensions between religious communities in Iraq."    Eckhard said Annan was also appalled by Tuesday's attack on Shi'ite worshipers marking Ashura in Quetta, Pakistan.He said he hoped the attacks were not an attempt to widen the dispute in Iraq between some Sunnis and Shi'ites into a broader conflict in the Middle East.    "We would like to think that these two violent acts carried out in Iraq and Pakistan today are politically motivated and not based on religion or not solely based on religion," Eckhard said.    "In Iraq, there has always been a comfortable relationship between Sunni and Shia, and it is our hope that these two groups can work together, as they have shown they can on the drafting of an interim constitution, and continue to work together towards arrangements for the transition period to the 30th of June and then the hand-over of sovereignty after that," he said.    02.03.2004    "Attacks on Iraq Shi'ites assailed across the globe", by Rosalind Russell    LONDON (Reuters) - Western governments, Muslim clerics and several Arab states on Tuesday denounced coordinated suicide attacks in Iraq, which tore through Shi'ite worshippers to kill at least 170 people, as efforts to split the country.    A member of Iraq's U.S.-backed Governing Council blamed the attacks on foreign groups bent on fomenting sectarian violence after U.S.-led forces ousted Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government last year.    Britain, Germany and France condemned the attacks outside mosques in Baghdad and the holy city of Kerbala as pilgrims marked Ashura, one of the holiest days in the Shi'ite calendar.    "The purpose...is to try and set the different religious communities in Iraq against each other, to destroy the progress in Iraq, to cause the maximum amount of dissent, division and hatred," British Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters.    EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana condemned "these heinous acts of violence, and the criminals, who have turned the holy day of Ashura into a nightmare and a bloodbath for so many Iraqis, Pakistanis and pilgrims from other countries".    Condemnation also came from Sunni and Shi'ite leaders who urged Muslims to unite against those trying to divide them but also levelled blame at the U.S.-led occupation forces.    Shi'ite spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani faulted the occupation forces for failing to control the borders and prevent infiltrators "and not strengthening Iraqi national forces and supplying them with the necessary equipment to do their jobs".    Iraq's northern neighbour, Turkey, called on "all segments of the Iraqi population to act reasonably during this sensitive period, to not join the games that aim to spark an ethnic or sectarian conflict".    The attacks came a day after Iraq's Governing Council agreed an interim constitution, laying the foundations for U.S. plans to return power to Iraqis by June 30.    Iraq's U.S. governor, Paul Bremer, said: "The terrorists want sectarian violence because they believe that is the only way they can stop Iraq's march toward the democracy."    German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, after meeting Jordan's King Abdullah in Berlin, said the bombings highlighted the need for a greater U.N. role but undermined its ability to play one.    "We both believe it is now important to do everything to achieve a stable and democratic Iraq and we also agree that this requires a special role for the United Nations, a process which surely will be very difficult to implement as is clear when looking at today's terrible attacks in Iraq," Schroeder said.    King Abdullah, who also visited London, said the attacks were "just another element of extremism under the umbrella of al Qaeda or its affiliates. We have seen that signature before". He said it was a blatant bid to pit Sunnis against Shi'ites.    A Shi'ite Governing Council member, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, blamed the attacks on Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian whom Washington suspects of working for the al Qaeda network. U.S. forces in Iraq said last month they had intercepted a computer disc with a letter from Zarqawi urging suicide bomb attacks on Shi'ites to inflame sectarian tension in Iraq.    "The civil war and sectarian strife that Zarqawi wants to inflict on the people of Iraq will not succeed. Zarqawi failed, his gang and their evil plans have failed," al-Rubaie said.    "Sunnis, Shi'ites, Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, all Iraqis are determined to move forward," he said. "United we stand and we go forward to build a new Iraq."    Iraqi Sunni cleric Ahmed Abdel Ghafour al-Samarai said those trying to incite sectarian strife would not succeed. "This was an invisible hand fanning sectarian discord...but we will not let them get away with this," he told the Al Arabiya television channel.    Sheikh Ali Salman, a Shi'ite cleric in Bahrain, the only Gulf Arab state with a Shi'ite majority, called for unity. "I hope this event will not trigger a reaction in the wrong direction," he said at an Ashura ritual in Manama. "All Muslims should work together to build a peaceful democratic Iraq."    Between 40 and 50 Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims were killed or injured in the blasts, according to Iranian officials. "Unfortunately the continued presence of occupation forces has not provided security for the Iraqi people and they (the occupiers) should accept their responsibility for this incident," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.
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