, The worsening conflict in Iraq is increasing the odds of a regional war in the Middle East, outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Dec. 8.
It is increasingly clear that soaring violence in Iraq affects not only that country but also threatens to “aggravate a range of underlying tensions in neighboring countries,” Annan, who leaves office on Dec. 31, said in his final report to the Security Council on the U.N. role in Iraq.
As a result, “the prospects of all-out civil war and even a regional conflict have become much more real” since his last report, issued three months ago, said Annan, who will be succeeded by South Korean Ban Ki-Moon on Jan. 1.
His comments appeared to go beyond earlier expressions of concern about the crisis in Iraq. He said in a BBC interview aired this week that Iraq was in the grips of a civil war and many people were worse off now than under Saddam Hussein.
His latest remarks came days after the Iraq Study Group advised U.S. President George W. Bush that his Iraq policy had failed and time was running out for setting a new course.
The group, which interviewed Annan in the course of its work, urged Washington to include Iran and Syria in a new diplomatic drive to avoid a “slide toward chaos” in Iraq.
