*EPF404 03/11/2004
United Nations Security Council Condemns Madrid Bombings
(Negroponte: Efforts need to be redoubled to fight terrorism) (640)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The U.N. Security Council March 11 unanimously condemned the bomb attacks in Madrid and urged all states to cooperate actively in efforts to find and bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers, and sponsors of the terrorist attack.
In a resolution the 15-member Security Council condemned "in the strongest terms the bomb attacks in Madrid, Spain, perpetrated by the terrorist group ETA . . . in which many lives were claimed and people injured, and regards such act, like any act of terrorism, as a threat to peace and security."
The vote at a public, formal session came just hours after a series of explosions killed at least 190 people and injured more than 1,200 on Madrid commuter trains. Spanish diplomats at the U.N. asked the council to include the mention of ETA as the group responsible.
Spanish Ambassador Anna Maria Menendez, deputy permanent representative of Spain to the U.N., thanked the international community and the council for their support.
"In this moment of grief and pain and suffering for the Spanish people, we have felt comforted by the unanimous and very fast adoption of Resolution 1530 by the Security Council, which is an unequivocal condemnation of the terrible terrorist attack which took place this morning in Madrid and claimed the lives of more perhaps than the 190 people so far and wounded approximately 1,200 or more Spaniards," Menendez told journalists after the vote.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte extended U.S. condolences to the victims of the attack and their families. "We are satisfied by the fact that the Security Council acted with such promptness to condemn unanimously this terrible terrorist attack," he said.
"Terrorist attacks under any guise or perpetrated by any organization have no justification whatsoever. The deliberate killing of innocent civilians is simply a reprehensible activity and needs to be condemned in the roundest of terms. Equally, and more important, efforts must continue and indeed be redoubled to try to prevent the occurrence of these acts in the future," the ambassador said.
Asked if the United States suspects that al-Qaeda might be responsible for the attack in retaliation for Spain's support of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Negroponte said that the council was guided by Spain's request.
"The Spanish Government feels this has the hallmarks of an ETA attack. They tell us there had been other threats in previous days and weeks in the run-up to forthcoming elections this Sunday. There had even been some attempts which were intercepted recently," the ambassador said.
"So it is the judgment of the government of Spain that these attacks were carried out by the ETA and we have no information to the contrary. Perhaps more information will develop as the investigation unfolds," he said.
Council President Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere of France said that when such horrible terrorist attacks happen "it is important for the council to condemn them and to show that the international community is really committed to fighting against terrorism."
Negroponte noted that the United Nations is an important actor in the war on terrorism in a number of different ways: the adoption and implementation of resolution 1373, which requires nations to take specific steps, including enacting legislation, to stop terrorist activities; going after those who finance and support of terrorism; and encouraging the ratification of the 12 international conventions that deal with terrorism.
"In the medium and longer term, dealing with failed states and trying to prevent countries from becoming failed states -- in which the U.N. has an important role -- is a way of trying to prevent or forestall or deal with the potential breeding grounds for terrorist activities," Negroponte said.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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