GENEVA, Switzerland, May 21 (UPI) -- The U.N. human rights commissioner said Friday he was shocked by the deaths of over 40 Iraqi civilians allegedly killed in a U.S. air strike on a wedding party.
Acting U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan, in a statement issued at UNHCHR headquarters in Geneva said, "Even if there are security-related concerns, there can be no license to commit carnage."
He said occupying forces had the responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare of Iraqi civilians and to refrain from excessive use of force and indiscriminate attacks.
Ramcharan called on "all belligerents to respect human rights and humanitarian law, and to demonstrate at all times paramount concern for the safety and protection of civilians."
In Baghdad, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special Iraq adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi, continued his consultations, meeting with representatives of the Iraqi Arab Nationalist movement, led by former Foreign Minister Sohbi Abdel Hamid, as well as the leadership of the Iraqi branch of the Dawa Party.
Brahimi is trying to gain consensus among Iraqis for an interim government to accept sovereignty from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority June 30 and to serve until elections in January.
