By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer

June 29, 2006, 4:36 AM EDT

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. humanitarian chief urged the Security Council to do more to protect civilians from conflicts and terror attacks, saying thousands have died in recent months in Iraq, Afghanistan and several African countries.

The Security Council should have acted against those in Ivory Coast who inspired and directed mob violence against civilians and humanitarian organizations in January, and against the militias and warlords receiving daily arms shipments in Somalia in violation of an embargo, Jan Egeland told an open meeting of the panel on Wednesday.

Egeland said the council didn't act because it was "overburdened by many responsibilities" and should give Ivory Coast and Somalia the same attention that the conflicts in Congo and Sudan's western Darfur region have received in recent months.

"The world is indeed a safer place for most of us, but it is still a death trap for too many defenseless civilians, men, women and children," Egeland said. "Despite all our efforts, women are still raped and violated as a matter of course, children are still forcibly recruited, and defenseless civilians continue to be killed."

Despite the council's focus, the situation in Congo and Sudan remains precarious, he said.

"Up to 1,200 people are dying in silence every day" in Congo, he said. In Darfur, the African Union has reported 69 people killed since the Darfur Peace Agreement was signed on May 3, but "we know the real figures are much higher," he added.

"However, it is in Iraq that the greatest numbers of civilians are being killed by indiscriminate acts of terror and sectarian and conflict violence," Egeland said.

Baghdad's main mortuary has received over 6,000 bodies of Iraqis killed since the beginning of the year, he said, citing Iraqi Health Ministry figures. President Bush, he noted, has estimated more than 30,000 Iraqis were killed between March 2003 -- the start of the Iraq war -- and the end of 2005.

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai said recently that up to 600 civilians had been killed in recent weeks, Egeland said.

He called for stepped-up action by local, national and regional leaders and groups to protect civilians. Egeland also called for earlier efforts to mediate conflicts, new approaches to peacekeeping, access for humanitarian workers and, most importantly, well-trained and financed peacekeepers with strong mandates to protect civilians.

The international community needs peacekeepers trained to deal with human rights abuses in Darfur and across the border in eastern Chad, where the conflict has spilled over, he said. Nor are there enough trained policemen to deal with groups like Ivory Coast's pro-government Young Patriots militia, which is using street violence to advance its agenda, he said.