United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan “deplores” the recent upswing in violence in Iraq, according to Stephane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesman. Annan and the 15-member Security Council condemned the murder of a Russian diplomat in Baghdad on Saturday and called for the immediate and unconditional release of four kidnapped Russian diplomats. Annan “calls on the Iraqi government and the Multinational Force (MNF) to take all necessary measures to counter the present wave of violence,” Dujarric said here yesterday, Dujarric added that the Secretary-General considered allegations that members of the multinational force had killed civilians to be “serious,” and that he believes they should be investigated.
