The UN’s deputy chief met Nigeria’s president Sunday after vowing a renewed fight against terrorism in the wake of a suicide bomb attack at the world body’s headquarters here that killed at least 23. Deputy UN Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro laid wreaths at the UN compound in Africa’s most populous nation and made her way past crushed debris and what looked to be blood stains during a tour of the badly damaged building.
“It is a shocking incident,” she said afterward. “This attack is against global peace. It is also against humanity because those who work here come from different countries.” She later visited victims at the national hospital and held talks with President Goodluck Jonathan. Migiro said after her 20-minute meeting with Jonathan that “we are currently doing a thorough assessment of what happened and how it happened and how we should strengthen whatever measures we have that are of a security nature”.
“We will never be deterred,” she said.
Friday’s attack that saw the bomber make his way through two gates at the heavily guarded compound before slamming his car into the entrance of the building was among the bloodiest targeting the UN globally. Migiro said earlier that “this act of terrorism will only rekindle our resolve to fight terrorism in all of its ramifications”. Her trip came as the death toll climbed and the investigation into the bombing in Abuja deepened, with FBI agents from the United States and the UN’s security chief also in the country. UN spokesman Martin Dawes said the toll was now 23 dead with 81 wounded. Some 400 people with a variety of nationalities worked in the UN building. Questions swirled over how the bomber managed to pass through two gates in the exit lane of the compound as well as over who was responsible for the blast in the continent’s largest oil producer.
