Annan questions Iraq power handover

American and British officials faced tough questions from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan today about the transfer of power back to the Iraqi people.

The US administrator in Baghdad, Paul Bremer, and the UK’s special representative for Iraq, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, were joining an Iraqi delegation at talks in New York.

The talks come after a senior Iraqi religious leader rejected proposals that a caucus-style vote be the first step in handing back sovereignty.

Also at the talks were Adnan Pachachi, current chairman of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, and John Sawers, political director of the Foreign Office.

During the discussions, due to last most of the day, Mr Annan is expected to press Mr Bremer on how much authority Washington is prepared to cede in the process of returning power to Iraqis.

Mr Annan is understood to be wary of being used to give credibility to Washington’s embattled plan to hand power back to the Iraqi people by June 30.

A diplomatic source said: “Everybody is aiming to achieve the same thing, which is to basically get serious discussion going on the possibility of the re-engagement of the United Nations in the political process in Iraq.

“Some at the UN are still wary about going back (to Iraq) at this stage, but the Secretary General has been clear that he wants to discuss this.”

The source said all sides recognised that the UN would be seen by Iraqi political parties as a neutral body which could drive the process forward.

“It is a matter of working out how this can be done since they are not on the ground in Iraq,” the source added.

The UN withdrew from Iraq last year after attacks on its headquarters.

In one bombing, in August, 22 people, including UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, were killed.

The current US plan to hand power over via a complex system of caucuses has been rejected by Iraq’s leading religious cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

He has demanded direct elections, suspecting that the proposed process could be manipulated to favour candidates supported by the US.

The plan would see American forces scaled back after the target date of June 30.

Some critics of the plan have claimed that US President George Bush is trying to withdraw troops quickly during an election year, and amid a growing number of US military deaths.