Attempts by the Bush administration to win a new United Nations resolution on the future of Iraq could be shelved due to a lack of support from Security Council members, it emerged today.
Senior administration officials also disclosed a split between Washington and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on the issue of when a new Iraqi government should be formed.
Two weeks ago President George Bush went to the UN to seek a new resolution which he hoped would mean more international forces being sent to help secure and reconstruct Iraq.
But a senior administration source said: “We don’t want to play this game for a long, long time.
“This is as much a choice for the Council as it is for us. They can be multilateral and be part of it, or they can tell us to do it ourselves,” the source said to the New York Times.
At the very least the administration is pulling back from seeking a quick vote.
The news will come as a blow in London where senior officials and diplomats believed a new resolution was possible by last week.
Washington sources labelled Mr Annan’s contribution to the process “unhelpful” and “surprising”.
He has expressed reservations about the US plan for returning power to the Iraqi people. He would reportedly like to see a quicker handover, within a matter of months, if possible.
The current plan would see the US-led coalition retaining power in Iraq during the potentially lengthy period of drawing up a new constitution and holding elections.
“We really are at a pause right now,” an administration source told the newspaper.
“A number of countries were leaning in our direction. But after the Secretary General’s statements, they became leery about supporting something he opposes.”
The source said Mr Annan had the model of Afghanistan in mind, in which an interim government was quickly established.
“But that’s not the right model,” the source said.
“The (current Iraqi) Governing Council is not seen as legitimate by the Iraqi people. They’re not ready to take power.”
from
news.scotsman.com
While some of this may be an attempt to put pressure on Annan, and there may still be a flurry of activity to get a US sponsored resolution passed, so far - not so good. Without an acceptable (no large number of abstentions) UN agreement, the Donors' Conference in Madrid in just over two weeks, may be a miserable failure.
JMO
lurqer |
