Geneva, Aug 19: The acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan today voiced shock and outrage at a bomb blast at UN headquarters in Baghdad. Sergio Vieira De Mello, the UN Human Rights Commissioner who is provisionally UN special representative for Iraq, has been hurt in the explosion, UN officials said in New York. "We are anxiously awaiting further information on the situation of our dear friends and colleagues, including the special representative of the Secretary-General and High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira De Mello," Ramcharan said in a statement. "Such a despicable act directed at people whose only aim is to assist the people of Iraq recover from war and years of oppression is to be condemned by the whole international community," he added.
"We are deeply shocked and outraged by the explosion at United Nations headquarters in Baghdad," he said.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in May named the Brazilian-born Vieira De Mello as his special representative for Iraq for four months.

Bureau Report