US, Britain present UN with Iraq blueprint

AMERICA and Britain presented a new UN resolution last night that would transfer "governing authority" in Iraq to a sovereign interim government by June 30 and authorise a multinational force to maintain peace.

It did not spell out whether the Iraqis could ask the US-led force to leave.

The wide-ranging resolution provides a blueprint for the end of US and British occupation and a timetable for Iraq's political transition to democratic government, with elections to a Transitional National Assembly to be held by January 31, 2005.

It states "the importance of the consent of the sovereign government of Iraq for the presence of the multinational force, and of close co-ordination between the multinational force and that government."

However, it only authorises the "Transitional Government of Iraq" to review the mandate of the multinational force, and that government won't be chosen until after next year's elections.

Senior British officials at the UN and in London said the relationship between the multinational force and the interim government, which has not yet been chosen, would be set out in an exchange of letters, which is referred to in the draft resolution. Britain hopes the letters would spell out plans for a National Security Committee made up of the Iraqi defence and interior ministers, the commander and deputy commander of the multinational force and to be chaired by the Iraqi prime minister.

Significant military operations, such as the recent offensive in the city of Fallujah, could not be taken without the committee's approval, thus giving Iraqis a veto, an official said.

The draft resolution would give the new Iraqi government control over its oil and gas resources and a fund now in the hands of the United States and Britain where oil revenue has been deposited.

Declaring their determination "to mark a new phase in Iraq's transition to a democratically elected government," the United States and Britain state clearly that, by June 30, their occupation will end and the Coalition Provisional Authority will "cease to exist". The resolution makes no mention, however, of the Iraqi Governing Council.

The draft resolution was an attempt by the Bush administration to win international backing for its post-occupation plans in Iraq, which have been severely shaken by violence in the country.

The resolution was formally introduced in New York at a closed-door meeting of the Security Council, which has held three informal sessions to discuss critical elements needed in a blueprint for post-occupation Iraq.

Council ambassadors heading into the meeting, who had received advanced copies of the draft, reacted positively, though several said they want to hear from UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is currently in Baghdad to help put together a broadly acceptable interim government.