UN: The world must act together against terrorism or put at risk everything the United Nations stands for, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, said yesterday.
"There could be no greater affront to the spirit and purpose of the United Nations than the terrorist attacks of September 11th," he told a solemn ceremony marking the anniversary, held in a garden at UN headquarters.
"Everything that we work for - peace, development, health, freedom - is damaged by this horror. Everything that we believe in - respect for human life, justice, tolerance, pluralism and democracy - is threatened by it. It must be defeated - and it must be defeated by the world acting as one," he said.
Mr Annan later addressed a special meeting of senior officials of the Security Council's 15 member-states, along with the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell.
That meeting culminated in the adoption of a statement praising New York's determination "not to give in to terrorism" and vowing to "remain steadfast against the threat that endangers all that has been achieved (by the UN) and all that remains to be achieved. The world saw terrorists use civilian aircraft for mass murder. They struck at the ideals embodied in the Charter of the United Nations. The attacks challenged each member to rise to the task of defeating terrorism."
Last year's attack on the World Trade Centre, only a few miles south of UN headquarters, occurred hours before the planned opening of the General Assembly's 56th annual session.
The session was promptly cancelled and the compound - home to the 190-nation assembly - was evacuated shortly after the attacks and again the next day after officials received security threats.
Osama bin Laden, blamed by Washington for masterminding the carnage, later singled out the United Nations in a video-taped message, blaming it for creating the Israeli state in 1948 and for putting pressure on Muslim Indonesia to withdraw from largely Catholic East Timor.
Bin Laden in the tape called Mr Annan a "criminal" and branded Muslims who co-operated with the world body as "infidels". The UN compound was sealed off by New York police for months after the attacks, with sand-filled dump trucks blocking every access road to fend off car bombings.
Even today, trucks are barred from driving by the compound, although police enforcement is not apparent.
Mr Annan reminded UN staff that citizens of more than 90 nations lost their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Centre in which about 2,800 people died.
He said the ceremony demonstrated that the world body, like its New York home, was not an isolated enclave. "Today we come together as a world community because we were attacked as a world community," he said. "May the memory of those who perished on September 11th serve to inspire a better, more just, more peaceful world for all." - (Reuters)