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Mkapa condemns London attacks
2005-07-09 07:34:57
By Tito Mganwa
Tanzania has condemned Thursday’s terrorist attacks on London, which by yesterday morning had claimed the lives of 53 people.
A statement issued yesterday by President Benjamin Mkapa said: ’We in Tanzania condemn unreservedly such acts of terrorism, the callous nature of their commitment and their total disregard for the sanctity of human life.’
The early morning blasts, which tore through packed three trains and a commuter bus during London rush hour, also injured more than 700 people.
The blasts also disrupted the ongoing G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.
President Mkapa, who is attending the G8 summit as an observer, called for concerted and relentless global action against terrorism.
Tanzania bore the brunt of international terrorism in August 1998, when the US embassy in Dar es Salaam was bombed and 11 people killed.
President Mkapa said that, it seemed almost unreal that people could plot and kill innocent people in the manner witnessed in the heart of London.
He said it was sad that the terrorists had struck when the G8 leaders were meeting in Gleneagles to find solutions to poverty and industrial gas emissions, considered the greatest challenges facing mankind today.
The president sent condolences to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the people of UK following the attack.
’Our sincere condolences also go to the families, friends and loved ones of the deceased. We wish the injured quick and full recovery,’ Mkapa said in his message.
Meanwhile, rescue workers inched through dangerous rail tunnels deep under London yesterday to hunt for clues and retrieve bodies after suspected al Qaeda bombers killed more than 50 people in rush-hour blasts.
Fears of more attacks and false alarms kept commuters and financial markets jittery, while authorities worldwide went on alert following threats to countries which, like Britain, have troops in Iraq.
A day after four bombs tore through three underground trains and a double-decker bus, the capital slowly got back to work.
Many people took the day off, but others ventured back onto London’s creaking transport network, some fearful, many defiant.
’No one’s going to stop me going where I want to go in my own city,’ said shop worker Stuart Mills, 27.
’You know what British people are like. They’ll just carry on.’
London mayor Ken Livingstone said the city would soon bounce back, noting it had been a week of triumph and tragedy for the capital, awarded the 2012 Olympics the day before the bombings.
The attacks — which ministers said bore the hallmarks of the Islamic militant al Qaeda network — were London’s deadliest in peacetime and disrupted a summit of the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised countries in Scotland.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair briefly left the summit to attend a crisis meeting in London on Thursday but vowed not to let the attacks derail the meeting and announced yesterday that the G8 had agreed to boost aid for developing nations.
’We offer today this contrast with the politics of terror,’ he said. ’It is hope that is the alternative to this hatred.’
London police chief Ian Blair said more than 50 people were killed in the blasts and 700 wounded, with 22 still critical.
He said people of many nationalities and religions had been caught up in the blast, noting the wounded were from
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