Middle East News
Iraq violence 'much worse' than recent civil wars, Annan says
By DPA
Dec 4, 2006, 9:49 GMT

London - The violence going on in Iraq is 'much worse' than what was seen in recent civil wars around the world and life for average Iraqis have worsened since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a BBC interview.

'A few years ago, when we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war. This is much worse,' Annan said after making statements in September that Iraq was headed for civil war.

Asked about the opinions of some Iraqis that their lives are harder since Saddam's fall in 2003, Annan said: 'I think they are right in the sense of the average Iraqi's life. If I were an average Iraq, obviously, I would make the same comparison, that they had a dictator who was brutal but they had their streets. They could go out, their kids could go to school and come back home without a mother or father worrying, 'Am I going to see my child again?''

'The Iraqi government has not been able to bring the violence under control,' said Annan, who will end 10 years as secretary general at the end of this month. '... Without security not much can be done - not recovery or reconstruction.'

The Ghanaian, who is to be succeeded by South Korean Ban Ki Moon, also described the US-led invasion of Iraq without a Security Council resolution as 'extremely difficult' for him 'because I really believed that we could have stopped the war.'

He added that the war has been decisive for the world and the United Nations, which is still recovering from the rifts.

It is healing, but we are not there yet,' he said. 'It hasn't healed yet, and we feel the tension still in this organization as a result.'

Annan also said the Iraq war has created fear across the Middle East.

'The people are worried,' he said. 'They are worried about the future, they are worried about the broader Middle East, they are worried about the tensions with Iran, they are worried about Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and some would even stretch it as far as to Afghanistan.

'So we have a very worrisome situation in the broader Middle East and we also need to look at them as a whole, not as individual conflicts. There are linkages between these crises.'

He called the world community to help Iraq stabilize.

'Obviously, they are going to need help, given the killings and the bitterness,' he said.