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A humanitarian issue: Annan

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

UNITED NATIONS APRIL 2. The United Nations Secretary- General, Kofi Annan, has said there is a lot of `unhappiness' in the world body on the ongoing military conflict in Iraq with many Arab and Islamic nations keen on seeing the world body playing a wider role in bringing about a ceasefire.

Mr. Annan also expressed doubt as to whether at this stage there would be an emergency session of the General Assembly as demanded by some member States. As of Tuesday, no formal request has reached the Assembly President, it is said.

"I know there has been quite a lot of discussion about convening the General Assembly to discuss the war. I am not sure if they have agreed to it or not, but obviously there is lot of unhappiness in this building about the war," Mr. Annan remarked to the media here today.

The Secretary-General made it clear that at this point of time the United Nations was solely concerned about the humanitarian problem, but did not rule out other roles for the world body down the line. This would have to be decided by the Security Council, he emphasised.

"There will have to be lots of discussions among the Council members and Member States and it is not excluded that the U.N. will play an important role, but that is a question that the Council will have to deal with," Mr. Annan said.

Mr. Annan was asked whether the fact that no weapons of mass destruction were found further diminished the legitimacy of the conflict. "...the issue before the Council was disarmament, but the Council had not endorsed this war and several reasons had been given for the action," Mr. Annan said.

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