UNITED NATIONS, March 27: Voicing the terrifying impact of war on Iraq, grief for the dead and anguish for the living, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday appealed to a divided Security Council to unite on a common purpose, and to the international community to respond swiftly and generously to a new flash appeal for humanitarian aid for the Iraqi people.

“All of us must regret that our intense efforts to achieve a peaceful solution, through this Council, did not succeed,” Mr Annan told the 15-member body at the outset of an open meeting on Iraq requested by the Arab League and Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Declaring that many across the world were bitterly disappointed by the Council’s divisions, he said: “Their faith in the United Nations can be restored only if the Council is able to identify and work constructively towards specific goals. I urge the five permanent members, in particular, to show leadership by making concerted efforts to overcome their differences.”

“The inability of the Council to agree earlier on a collective course of action places an even greater burden on you today,” he said, urging the Council to rediscover its unity of purpose.