UN role would give new government legitimacy, says Annan
Mr Annan also said he would name Rafeeuddin Ahmed, a Pakistani national and former associate administrator of the UN Development ProgramME, as his special adviser on Iraq. Mr Ahmed has been advising Mr Annan for several months on post-war Iraq.
“I do expect the UN to play an important role, and the UN has had good experience in this area,” Mr Annan said.
“There are lots of areas the UN can play a role, but above all the UN involvement does bring legitimacy, which is necessary for the country, for the region and for the peoples around the world,” he said.
Mr Annan spoke ahead of a Security Council meeting that he requested over the weekend to discuss UN involvement in post-war Iraq.
Washington expects to set up an interim administration to run the oil-rich country for at least several months once the fighting ends, arguing it has risked its soldiers’ lives and spent billions of dollars to topple Baghdad.
The vast majority of world governments, including US military partners Britain and Australia, want to see UN involvement in Iraq after the war.
Many in the Arab world, in particular, favour a UN presence to address fears that Washington launched the war to seize Iraq’s oil riches.
But Washington so far has given little indication what post-war role it thinks the international community could play besides helping pay for reconstruction and humanitarian aid.
“There will definitely be a UN role but what the exact nature of that role will be remains to be seen,” US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Brussels last Thursday, in response to European Union pleas for a significant UN post-war role.
Mr Annan said: “Iraqis have to be responsible for their political future and to control their own natural resources, and whatever one can do to help the emergence of the new leadership in a new situation is what one should focus on.”
The Security Council remains deeply divided over Iraq, and Mr Annan spent last week in a series of private meetings with UN delegations in search of consensus on a way forward.
He said he had called the Security Council’s 15 members together yesterday to discuss the developments on the ground in Iraq and the post-war situation.
Asked about preparatory moves by retired US Lieutenant General Jay Garner, who heads the Pentagon’s Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, to quickly establish an interim civilian administration, Mr Annan said he saw that as “part of the war effort”.
Lt Gen Garner’s mission was “eventually to try to pacify the situation and secure the environment before one moves on to the next stage,” he said.
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