Iraq: Annan in crucial talks on UN role

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was meeting coalition and Iraqi officials today, in top-level talks on a role for the UN as Iraq moves towards democracy.

While the United States is pressing for the speedy return of UN staff, Annan has stated repeatedly that the security conditions in Iraq are still too dangerous – a view likely to be reinforced by yesterday’s bombing at the gates of the US-led coalition headquarters in Baghdad that killed 20 people.

Annan ordered all international staff to leave Iraq in late October, following two bombings at UN headquarters – including one on August 19 that killed top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others – and a spate of attacks on humanitarian targets.

Although Annan has not ruled out sending some staff back if they had important tasks, he has called for “much greater clarity” on what the Iraqis and the coalition expect of the United Nations in order to gauge whether the job is worth the risk.

“Whether to go back or not is primarily ... a security assessment, taken in connection with an assessment of the significance of the role we are being asked to play,” UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said on Friday.

“As far as the role that we might play, we’ve also said ... we want strong and broad Iraqi support for that, support for the neighbours, and support from the [Iraqi Governing] Council.”

Despite serious differences with the UN over the war in Iraq, the Bush administration is reaching out to the world body for help in ensuring a smooth transfer of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government by July 1. The coalition has called for provincial caucuses to chose an assembly that would form an interim government.

But the country’s most prominent Shi’ite leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, has called for direct elections for the parliament.

US administrator Paul Bremer maintains that there is no time to organise elections given the ongoing violence and no voter rolls – a view backed by Annan, who has called for the process of choosing an interim assembly to be expanded to include all segments of Iraqi society and be fully transparent.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell told a Dutch television network, “The UN can be helpful in helping to bring all parties together to support the November 15 plan,” which spelled out the timetable for the transfer of power.

Annan recommended an early transfer of sovereignty “so he’s pleased that they’re moving towards this objective and he wants to help them in any way he can”, Eckhard said.

Adnan Pachachi, the current president of the Iraqi Governing Council who is leading its delegation to the three-way talks, said last week it wanted UN help with the post-July 1 political process, from writing a constitution to compiling a list of voters and conducting a census.

“Of course, the involvement of the UN will undoubtedly give greater international legitimacy to the process,” Pachachi said last week.

UN officials say the secretary-general will express a readiness to assist the Iraqis in drafting a constitution and holding general elections, which are called for by the end of 2005 under the November 15 plan.

But what meaty role the United Nations could – or would – play before the June 30 transfer of power is not clear.

Pachachi and Bremer want Annan to state clearly that credible elections before July 1 are not possible, a coalition official said in Baghdad. The coalition also reportedly wants the United Nations to play some sort of advisory role during the caucuses.