UN system in Ethiopia assembles in honour of slain colleagues in Baghdad

Addis Ababa, 17 August 2007 - Hundreds of members of the United Nations family in Ethiopia today in Addis Ababa observed a minute silence in honour of UN staff killed four years ago in a bomb attack in Baghdad.

UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), read a short statement from Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon.

In the statement, the Secretary General paid tribute to the “brave men and women who continue to serve the UN in Iraq and beyond”.

“The bombers shook us to the very core, yet they could not shake our ideals; our values, our commitment, our resolve; these are all unchanged,” he said.

He said the decision by the Security Council to strengthen the UN mission in Iraq was an opportunity to carry forward the work of (Head of Mission) Sergio Viera de Mello and his colleagues, who died in the attack.

He promised that the terrorists who carried out the attack would, one day, be brought to justice. “There can be no impunity for such murderers,” he said.

Click here for the SG's full statement.