The most devastatingattack ever on a UN facility killed the chief UN envoy toIraq and at least 15 staff in Baghdad and stunned the globalbody at its headquarters today with dazed staff roamingthe corridors, some weeping.
Dazed staff wept as televisions displayed grim pictures ofthe devastation at the main UN office building in Iraq,where some 300 of their colleagues worked. Many were stilltrapped in the wreckage and the death toll was sure to climb,officials said.
The flags of the United Nations' 191 member-nations, whichadorn the front of the UN compound on Manhattan's East Side,were lowered and the blue-and-white UN flag was put athalf-staff to honor the dead.
UN officials said they believed the office of Mr SergioVieira de Mello, the UN Special Representative for Iraq, hadbeen the target of the suicide truck bombing.
UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan called his death "abitter blow for the United Nations and for me personally."
"The death of any colleague is hard to bear but I couldthink of no one we could less spare," Mr Annan, who was onvacation in Helsinki, said in a statement issued in New York,as he canceled his vacation after news of the attack.
In a series of senior posts including UN HighCommissioner for Human Rights and special envoy in such hotspots as Kosovo and East Timor, "he impressed everyone with hischarm, his energy and his ability to get things done, not byforce but by diplomacy and persuasion," Mr Annan said.
The debonair Vieira de Mello, a 55-year-old Brazilian, hadoften been mentioned as a possible future UNsecretary-general.
"Nothing can excuse this act of unprovoked and murderousviolence against men and women who went to Iraq for one purposeonly: to help the Iraqi people recover their independence andsovereignty, and to rebuild their country as fast as possible,under leaders of their own choosing," Mr Annan said.
"All of us at the United Nations are shocked and dismayedby today's attack, in which many of our colleagues have beeninjured and an unknown number have lost their lives," he said,expressing the hope that those responsible would be swiftlyidentified and brought to justice.
"Most of all I hope to see Iraq restored as soon aspossible to peace, security and full independence. The UnitedNations will make every effort to bring that about," he said.
The 15-nation Security Council affirmed the blast would notdeter the world body from its work rebuilding Iraq.