Annan expects UN to play an important role in rebuilding Iraq

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he expected the United Nations to play an important role in rebuilding Iraq after the war and said this would bring legitimacy to the effort.

Mr Annan also announced he was naming Rafeeuddin Ahmed, a Pakistani national and former associate administrator of the UN Development Program, as his special adviser on Iraq.

"I do expect the UN to play an important role, and the UN has had good experience in this area," Mr Annan told reporters ahead of a meeting of the UN Security Council that he had called to discuss the issue.