Annan says world is unsafe, seeks more work on terror
THE world remains in danger of terrorist attacks and there is a lot of work left to be done to make humanity safe from such, according to Kofi Annnan, the United Nations Secretary-General.
Indeed, contrary to the declared expectations of the United States and its allies, the war in Iraq has not made the world safer, Annan declared.
Annan's statement aired yesterday on a British television came as U.S. planes again bombed the Iraqi city of Fallujah and battled insurgents accused of sheltering foreign militants led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"I cannot say the world is safer when you consider the violence around us, when you look around you and see the terrorist attacks around the world and you see what is going on in Iraq," Annan told the ITV network.
"We have a lot of work to do as an international community to try and make the world safer," he said.
Annan has previously described the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein as "illegal."
He told ITV that Iraq was on track to holding elections at the end of January and said he would speak out if he was not satisfied with the way they are conducted.
"If there is that sort of judgment or any decision, which is made that we think detracts from the credibility and viability of the elections, we will be duty-bound to say so," he said.
Annan also dismissed any suggestion that France, Russia and China had been prepared to ease sanctions on Saddam Hussein's Iraq in return for oil contracts.
Iraq tried to manipulate foreign governments by awarding contracts and bribes - to foreign companies and political figures in countries that showed support for ending sanctions, particularly Russia, France and China.
But Annan said it was "inconceivable" Saddam's activities could have influenced policy in the countries concerned.
"I don't think the Russian or the French or the Chinese government would allow itself to be bought..." Annan said.
"I think it's inconceivable. These are very serious and important governments. You are not dealing with banana republics."
Meanwhile, U.S. aircraft bombed Fallujah yesterday and troops battled insurgents accused of sheltering foreign militants led by America's top enemy in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Three civilians, including a child, were killed in the violence, hospital officials said. A child and a woman were among 12 wounded.
In Baghdad, attackers fired a mortar round at an arms collection site in Sadr City, a sprawling Shi'ite slum district, killing two Iraqi National Guards and a civilian.
Hospital officials said at least nine civilians were also wounded in the attack on the Sina'a Club football stadium used to store weapons collected from Shi'ite militiamen.
Iraq's National Security Adviser, Kassim Daoud, announced that the disarmament scheme, which had been due to end yesterday, had been extended for another two days. He said the government was still ready for a peaceful solution in Fallujah.
The U.S.-backed government is trying to disarm militias before January elections and build up fledgling Iraqi security forces, though they have lost hundreds in insurgent attacks.
Gunmen killed nine Iraqi policemen returning home from a training course in Jordan late Saturday. "No one survived and the attackers escaped," said a police spokesman in the southern city of Kerbala, describing the ambush south of Baghdad.
The interim government hopes to restore its authority in Sadr City by peaceful means, but said last week Fallujah could expect military action unless it handed over Zarqawi's group.
"The government has said on many occasions it will not use military force in Fallujah except as a last resort," Daoud said.
"We declare to all Iraqi people and especially those in Fallujah that the door is still open for any initiative ... to prevent a military solution," he said in a statement.
Prospects for this have receded since U.S. forces detained the city's chief negotiator last Friday.
Residents said explosions and heavy gunfire on the eastern edge of Fallujah accompanied clashes that pitted U.S. tanks against fighters with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.
U.S. armoured personnel carriers and Humvee vehicles gathered on a highway on Fallujah's outskirts, witnesses said.
The latest air strikes followed raids on Saturday night that killed three people and wounded five, hospital sources said. Residents said dozens of houses had been damaged.
A U.S. military statement said the warplanes targeted a checkpoint manned by Zarqawi fighters in the city's Jolan district after raids last Thursday hit two other checkpoints.
It said the latest raid was part of an intensive campaign against militants said to be using the Sunni Moslem bastion west of Baghdad as a base to plan suicide bombings and kidnappings.
Residents say civilians are the main casualties of frequent U.S. air strikes aimed at smashing Zarqawi's suspected network.
Fallujah has effectively been in insurgent hands since Washington called off a U.S. assault on the city in April after fierce fighting and a high civilian death toll.
The government has sworn to retake Fallujah and other rebel strongholds to enable all Iraqis to vote in the elections. But any new offensive could cast a cloud over the polls.
In Sadr City, a U.S. officer said Shi'ite militiamen have handed in few serviceable weapons under the cash-for-guns scheme meant to halt weeks of fighting with U.S. forces there.
"Our expectations had been that thousands of weapons would be handed in," said Captain Brian O'Malley of the First Cavalry Division in Sadr City east. "We haven't seen that many."
He told Reuters that many of the surrendered weapons were old and broken. It did not appear that militiamen loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had completely disarmed, he added.
But Aqil al-Saffar, a senior Iraqi security official, said a large quantity of light, medium and heavy weapons had been collected in the past week and stored at the Defence Ministry.`
