UN team arrives to review Iraq return
Fri Jan 23, 5:42 PM ET Add Mideast - AFP to My Yahoo!
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United Nations (news - web sites) announced that a two-man security advance team arrived in Baghdad as the world body readies for a possible high-stakes return to Iraq (news - web sites).
AFP/DDP/File Photo
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With UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) facing calls to help resolve the impasse over the US plan to hand over power to Iraqis by July, a spokesman said the team would look at sites and meet with the US-led coalition.
Their arrival marks a breakthrough in the months-long bid by US and Iraqi officials to get the UN, which was sidelined in the drafting of the handover plan, back into Iraq to assist with the political transition.
A spokesman for Annan said the team -- a military advisor and a security coordinator -- would "liaise" with the coalition and look at possible work sites for the United Nations, which Annan withdrew from Iraq three months ago.
"The opening of a direct line of communication with the coalition on security matters is necessary for the planning for the safety and security of UN personnel, activities and assets in Iraq and for an eventual return of UN international staff to Iraq," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Annan has repeatedly said security is a paramount concern.
He pulled international staff out in October after two deadly bombings, including an August 19 attack on the UN's Baghdad offices that killed his top envoy and 21 others. More than 100 people were injured in that attack.
"We look forward to working with the team while it's on the ground to provide the necessary security and help them implement the security that they require," said a US spokesman here.
Despite the risks, diplomats say Annan is expected to agree next week to sending a follow-up team of election experts to help overcome Iraqi opposition to the US-backed power transfer plan.
Speaking earlier at the World Economic Forum (news - web sites) in Davos, Switzerland, Annan said he would announce his decision on the election team "shortly."
The advance team would be followed by another security assessment mission before any election team is sent, the spokesman said.
"This is a first step that demonstrates the commitment of the United Nations to collaborate in the future of Iraq," said Chile's UN ambassador Heraldo Munoz, the current president of the UN Security Council.
"The United Nations has to work on the ground in direct contact with the people," he said.
The United States and its handpicked Iraqi Governing Council on Monday asked Annan to send an election team after the pre-eminent religious leader of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority rejected the current power transfer plan.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani wants direct elections rather than the complex caucus system now envisioned, which would see the coalition hand power to an unelected government.
One of his representatives said on Friday, however, that the mass protests Sistani has organised to protest the plan had been called off to give the United Nations time to see if elections are feasible.
Annan does not think enough time remains to hold free and fair elections by the June 30 handover date, and he is expected to help thrash out a compromise acceptable to the highly respected leader.
But the UN's role was complicated further when another cleric stoked resentment against the United Nations -- which many Iraqis dislike for its role in imposing crippling sanctions on the country under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
"I refuse the participation of the United Nations in supervising elections, because it is not honest and it follows America," said the cleric, Moqtada Sadr. "I refuse the participation of America in elections."
The United States has made clear it believes that Lakhdar Brahimi, newly appointed as Annan's special advisor and a widely respected diplomat, could help smooth opposition to the US plans.
Brahimi met in Washington on Thursday with US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), national security advisor Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), and her top Middle East aide Robert Blackwell.
The UN spokesman said Powell had spoken Friday to Annan about his meeting with Brahimi. |
