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Assassinated iraqi leader mourned { September 26 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Assassinated Iraqi Leader Mourned, UN Staff Leave
Fri September 26, 2003 04:51 AM ET
By Fiona O'Brien and Rosalind Russell
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Mourners gathered in Baghdad on Friday for the funeral of a U.S.-appointed Iraqi leader assassinated by gunmen, as the United Nations pulled more staff out of the country following two suicide bomb attacks.
In the restive town of Baquba, a hotbed of guerrilla activity northeast of Baghdad, a mortar attack on a market killed eight Iraqis on Thursday, the U.S. military said. A spokesman said no American troops were wounded in the attack.
The U.N. decision to withdraw staff due to deteriorating security comes just as Washington seeks a greater international drive to provide troops and funds for rebuilding the country which holds the world's second largest oil reserves.
The pull-out would not affect the day-to-day running of U.N. humanitarian programs, a U.N. spokeswoman in Baghdad said.
Diplomats and prominent Iraqis held a memorial ceremony in Baghdad for Akila al-Hashemi, a female career diplomat who had been due to be part of the Iraqi delegation to the U.N. General Assembly this week. She was attacked by gunmen in Baghdad on Saturday and died of her wounds on Thursday.
Members of her family carried her coffin, draped in an Iraqi flag, into the Governing Council offices, chanting the Islamic declaration of faith. Colleagues said her death would not stop the council's determination.
"Those who thought that the death of Dr Akila would disrupt the march toward the dawn of democracy and freedom will be disappointed," council member Iyad Allawi said.
She was expected to be buried in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf later on Friday.
The assassination of Hashemi, one of 25 members of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council, dealt a new blow to halting efforts to build a credible Iraqi leadership and prepare for the handover of power to an elected government.
DEADLY ATTACKS
Nations which opposed the war, such as France and Germany, have called for a swifter handover of power as a condition of support for U.S. efforts to win more international help policing and rebuilding Iraq.
President Bush is trying to win agreement for a greater U.N. role in Iraq in return for more international contributions of troops and funds. In stark contrast however, many international staff are quitting Baghdad.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard called Thursday's decision by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to order a further pull-out "a temporary redeployment of international staff in Iraq," following advice from top security advisers.
U.N. sources said Annan's security aides had advocated a total withdrawal but Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed concern about the impact such a move would have on Iraq. The outcome was a compromise, they said.
A U.N. spokeswoman in Baghdad said around a third of the 42 international staff remaining in the capital would leave over the next few days.
"There have been two attacks and we cannot go on like this," Veronique Taveau said. "But the U.N. is not pulling out of Iraq. We are committed to the work we are doing here."
A suicide car bomber blew himself up near the U.N. compound on Monday, also killing a security guard, a month after a truck bomb attack on the building killed 22 people including mission chief Sergio Vieira de Mello.
In other deadly attacks in Baghdad this week, a roadside bomb intended for a U.S. convoy killed an Iraqi on Wednesday, and a bomb attack on a Baghdad hotel housing journalists from U.S. television network NBC killed a Somali guard.
Despite the spiralling violence and the pull-out of many U.N. staff, Powell said there was a convergence of views in the Security Council on a new resolution on rebuilding Iraq.
Initially, the Security Council had been split with some countries calling for a swifter transition to Iraqi self-rule, while Washington said this could worsen the chaos.
Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council has said it hopes a new constitution could be ready by the middle of next year, but the body has yet to win widespread trust among Iraqis.
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