UN at 69, remembers Abuja UN bomb blast

Emeka Ibemere

It was a solemn affair at the United Nations Day Celebration, Friday 24 October 2014, at exactly 10.00am at the UN House, Plot 617/618 Diplomatic Drive, and Abuja. After the arrival of the guests and procession the Nigerian and UN Anthems rented the air.

Then followed by the wreath laying– by the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, NPC Minister, FCT Minister and UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators. Military contingent hoisted the UN and Nigeria flags in a quick military precision. Welcome to the UN Day Celebration!

As UN is faced with multiple crises of global poverty and disease, to terrorism as climate change continue to afflict the world, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, observed the 69th anniversary of the United Nations declaring that the Organization is needed now “more than ever.”.

In Nigeria, Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs and other UN community used the occasion to reflect on the wanton killing in 2011 of over 50 persons including UN staffers during bomb at the super-organisation’s office in Abuja, capital of Nigeria

The 2011 Abuja bombing was a car bomb explosion on Friday, 26 August in Abuja's UN building that killed that killed at least 50 persons and wounded over 60.

 It would be recalled that the dreaded Islamist group Boko Haram later claimed responsibility.

On that fateful day, at about 11:00 morning, in the capital Abuja, the car bomb- laden vehicle ran in a murderous frenzy through two security barriers. Then its driver detonated the bomb after crashing it into the UN reception area. The bomb caused devastation to the building's lower floors. The building is said to be the headquarters for about 400 UN employees.

A wing of the building collapsed and the ground floor of the building was badly damaged. Emergency services quickly on the scene removed dead bodies from the building and rushing the wounded to hospital. Cranes were brought to the blast site to move the mass of rubble and ensure that no-one was trapped there.

The blast killed at least 50 people and injured over 60. The then Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Viola Onwuliri, said: "This is not an attack on Nigeria but on the global community. An attack on the world."

 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the attack as an “assault on those who devote themselves to helping others”. The attack is the first suicide bombing in Nigeria to attack an international organisation.

In September 2011 the Nigerian Department of State Security alleged that Mamman Nur was the mastermind behind the attack and offered a ₦26 million (US$160,000) bounty. Also four men appeared in an Abuja magistrates' court charged with organising the bombing, and were remanded in custody to a federal high court hearing.

Boko Haram group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.

It is believed that the blast was so large that it destroyed a wing of the UN office. Alessandra Vellucci, a spokeswoman for the UN office in Geneva, said the global body's offices in Abuja had been bombed.

This year’s celebration mark the start of the First World War and its also used to remember the tragic circumstances that led, first to the creation of the League of Nations and then, later, to the establishment of the United Nations itself.

“The world has changed. But the need for fundamental rights to be enshrined and protected and for nations and people to come together, and to work together, has not been diminished. If anything, the global nature of the challenges- and indeed the opportunities- we face demands that we cooperate even more closely than ever before”. Speech by Minister for the United Nations, Baroness Anelay, at a reception held for UN Day, stated.

“Those who violate international standards of behaviour must be held accountable for their actions. That is why the UK continues to be a staunch supporter of the International Criminal Court’s work to tackle impunity for the worst atrocities including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity”. “This time last month, the Prime Minister led the UK delegation to the 69th session of the UN General Assembly Ministerial week. This was the UN doing what it does best: providing a platform for Member States to discuss the great challenges of the day and to narrow their differences on ways to tackle them”.