Four years after the terrorist bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a solemn commemoration Friday that the safety of U.N. staff will be «paramount» as the U.N. expands its role in Baghdad, according to AP. A week ago, the Security Council voted unanimously to strengthen the U.N. role in Iraq and opened the door for the world body to promote talks to ease Iraq's sectarian bloodshed, but ramping up the U.N. presence in Iraq remains a highly sensitive issue. Hours after the vote, the U.N. Staff Council called on the secretary-general to pull all U.N. personnel out of Iraq until security improves. Nearly 200 U.N. staffers attended Friday's commemoration of the Aug. 19, 2003, bombing which killed top U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 others, and thousands more watched or listened in U.N. offices around the world. The anniversary was marked simply _ with a musical tribute by the U.N. Singers, the reading of the names of those who lost their lives, a minute of silence at U.N. offices around the world, and a wreath-laying by three survivors of the bombing. Standing near the tattered U.N. flag that once flew over the Canal Hotel where the U.N. had its offices, and a memorial plaque with the names of the victims, the secretary-general told the staff that the Security Council's decision to strengthen the U.N. mandate was an opportunity to carry forward the work of de Mello and his colleagues who died in Baghdad. «That is why I affirm to you today that any such measure remains strictly subject to conditions on the ground _ your safety is and always will be a paramount concern,» Ban said. But he stressed that while the «the bombers shook us to the very core ... they could not shake our ideals, our values, our commitment, our resolve.»
