Arab press castigates attack

EGYPT: Egypt's Foreign Minister, Mr Ahmad Maher, yesterday condemned Tuesday's bombing at UN headquarters in Baghdad which killed at least 24 foreign and Iraqi staff and wounded 107.

"Egypt denounces this criminal act which targeted people in charge of a humanitarian mission and an organisation which is trying to help the Iraqi people become masters of their own destiny."

Mr Maher expressed the hope that the bombing, which killed the UN's special representative, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, and other senior figures, "will not discourage the UN from pursuing its mission in helping the Iraqi people" to set up a new government.

His remarks echoed earlier statements by the UAE, Lebanon, Syria and the Arab League.

The Arab press castigated the bombers and expressed backing for UN efforts in Iraq while calling for an end to the US occupation. Lebanon's Daily Star said the killing of UN humanitarian workers "is an act so degenerate that it defies any rational explanation" and asked how the Arabs had fallen so low they they not only carried out but also accepted such atrocities.

The UAE's Akbar al-Arab said: "It is unlikely that those who perpetrated this act . . . had any political aims such as a revenge against the UN for its [past negative] role in Iraq . . . Those who perpetrated this act simply want to cause chaos and insecurity."

Jordan's mass circulation al- Rai agreed. "The culprits know what they are doing: they want Iraq to remain in the circle of violence and bloodshed so that they may benefit from the occupation by perpetuating chaos and the culture of looting, killing and crime."

But al-Baath, the mouthpiece of Syria's ruling party, predicted that "this criminal act . . . will not prevent the UN from helping the Iraqi people to regain their freedom and independence."

Saudi Arabia's al-Riyadh observed bleakly: "Everything in Iraq has turned into an enemy [of the US] . . . the land, the environment and the people . . . Iraq will become a quagmire into which America will sink."