UNITED NATIONS, April 12: The United Nations on Monday asked kidnappers to release aid workers taken hostage in Iraq, where a bloody uprising against the US occupation is adding to the nation's humanitarian woes.
The UN's top envoy in Iraq, Ross Mountain, said the world body was working closely with aid groups to try to get assistance into Fallujah and other cities where fighting has been raging.
"Humanitarian access to affected civilians, and access of those civilians in need to basic supplies and services are of major concern," Mountain said in a statement from the UN office in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
"Aid workers, NGOs and other humanitarian organisations must be able to safely reach populations in distress, including those who require urgent medical assistance," he said.
The statement said that oxygen, emergency kits, blood bags and other items had been sent out from Baghdad to needy areas. It was unclear if the shipments had arrived. Mountain condemned the kidnapping of aid workers as a violation of humanitarian principles and called for their immediate release.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Saturday spoke with his political envoy Lakhdar Brahimi as well as US Secretary of State Colin Powell about the situation in Iraq. Brahimi has meanwhile been holding talks with Iraqis to help work out plans for an interim government and elections to be held by the end of January. -AFP
