UN Secretary-General calls for 'immediate and unconditional' release of all hostages in Iraq by UN News / BBC World News 4:37pm 8th Sep, 2004   8 September 2004    Annan urges 'immediate and unconditional' release of all hostages in Iraq. (UN News)    Amid mounting reports of hostage-taking in Iraq, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today reiterated his call for the "immediate and unconditional" release of all those who have been abducted.    "The Secretary-General is extremely concerned about the fate of all civilians held hostage," his spokesman, Fred Eckhard, told journalists in New York.    "The abductions of two French journalists and two Italian humanitarian aid workers and their Iraqi colleagues are but the latest incidents in a tragic pattern of violations committed against innocent civilians in Iraq," he added in a statement.    The statement appealed "for respect, at all times, for the fundamental principals of human rights and dignity."    8 September, 2004    Iraq: Concern for Italian Aid Workers held Hostage Grows. (BBC News)    Concern is growing for two Italian women aid workers in Iraq taken hostage by gunmen who stormed their Baghdad offices in broad daylight. There has so far been no word from those holding Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, and two Iraqis.    Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi held an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday and his foreign minister has already contacted Arab counterparts for help. More than 100 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since March 2003. Although most have been freed, 25 were killed, including Italian reporter Enzo Baldoni.    The BBC's Mike Donkin in Baghdad says the latest hostage-taking has moved into dangerous new territory. The attack took place on Tuesday in a villa shared with other aid agencies in the centre of Baghdad.    Ms Pari and Ms Torretta are also the first women to be seized, apart from one Japanese hostage who was briefly held. A gang of up to 20 gunmen stormed the offices of the Italian humanitarian group A Bridge for Baghdad at around 1400 GMT. They took a male Iraqi volunteer named as Raad Ali Aziz and a female Iraqi working for another Italian NGO called Mahnaz Bassam, along with the two Italian women. A spokesman for the agency, Raffaele Rienzi, said the Italian women had been involved in taking oxygen and water to hospitals and helping to reconstruct schools.    "I last spoke with the two Simonas the day before yesterday... they confirmed that they felt completely secure doing their job. They excluded any possibility of it being dangerous enough for them to leave Iraq," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press...    # The Universal Rights Network calls for the immediate release of all humanitarian aid workers held hostage in Iraq. These people are risking their lives to help the Iraqi People, and are not involved in anything other than trying to improve the welfare of their fellow human beings.    Kim Gleeson, Director. Universal Rights Network.
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