UN Baghdad hotel bombing survivors: Mujahed Hassan
Introduction:
It has been 15 years since the terrorist attack on the UN compound at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad: “the darkest day in our lives at the United Nations”, in the words of the Secretary-General at the time, Kofi Annan.
The truck bomb killed 22 international and local staff, including the top UN representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Current and former staff who survived the blast on 19 August 2003 have been reflecting on the tragedy, which marked the first time the UN was deliberately targeted on a massive scale.
For Mujahed Hassan, working for the UN was “a dream.”
It was an opportunity to serve his homeland, and having grown close to his colleagues in the IT Department, the workplace felt more like a family.
Although the attack left him with severe injuries and conflicted feelings about the UN, Mr. Hassan still believes in the global organization and its role in his country’s development.
It has been 15 years since the terrorist attack on the UN compound at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad: “the darkest day in our lives at the United Nations”, in the words of the Secretary-General at the time, Kofi Annan.
The truck bomb killed 22 international and local staff, including the top UN representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Current and former staff who survived the blast on 19 August 2003 have been reflecting on the tragedy, which marked the first time the UN was deliberately targeted on a massive scale.
For Mujahed Hassan, working for the UN was “a dream.”
It was an opportunity to serve his homeland, and having grown close to his colleagues in the IT Department, the workplace felt more like a family.
Although the attack left him with severe injuries and conflicted feelings about the UN, Mr. Hassan still believes in the global organization and its role in his country’s development.