[An Nahar] United Nations...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
envoy Martin Kobler warned on Friday that Iraq is at a "crossroads," calling for restraint as a wave of violence killed more than 190 people in four days.
"I call on the conscience of all religious and politicians not to let anger win over peace, and to use their wisdom, because the country is at a crossroads," Kobler said in a statement.
Kobler spoke a day after Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki... Prime Minister of Iraq and the secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party....
warned that the country was in danger of returning to "sectarian civil war."
Maliki, from Iraq's Shiite Moslem majority, called on people "to take the initiative, and not be silent about those who want to take the country back to sectarian civil war."
The country was torn by Sunni-Shiite fighting in 2007-2008 in which thousands of people were killed each month.
The latest trouble began on Tuesday when security forces moved in against anti-government protesters near the northern Sunni Arab town of Hawijah, sparking festivities that left 53 people dead.
Dozens more were killed in subsequent unrest, much of it linked to Tuesday's festivities, and the corpse count had reached 195 by Friday.