UN will have to rely on coalition troops in Iraq

The United Nations will have to rely on the US-led multi-national force in Iraq for security for its new envoy in Baghdad because no countries have offered troops for a separate UN protection force, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

Ashraf Jehangir Qazi of Pakistan will take up his post as UN special representative in Iraq before a national conference of political, religious and civic leaders gets under way in mid-August, he said.