U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday he would send a U.N. political team to Iraq “as soon as practicable” to advise Baghdad on a transitional government as well as elections early next year.
Annan did not give a date, but the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority has suggested the week of March 21, diplomats said.
“I am prepared to send a team led by Lakhdar Brahimi,” Annan told reporters, referring to his special envoy, “as soon as practicable.”
The secretary-general was responding to an invitation from the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, received on Thursday, asking for U.N. help to form an interim government that would take power by June 30, when the U.S.-led occupation ends.
The council also asked the world body to help in planning for direct elections for a permanent government by the end of January 2005.
“We welcome U.N. consultations in the efforts we are exerting in the broad national dialogue regarding the shape and scope of this interim government,” diplomats quoted the Iraqi letter as saying.
“We also look forward to United Nations assistance in providing advice and observations needed to ensure that direct elections are held before the end of January 2005,” the council said. “We hope that the U.N. will be able to return to Iraq as soon as possible.”
The letter was delivered to Annan by Iraq’s U.N. mission. A similar letter was given to him by Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister, went to Iraq last month to study the feasibility of holding elections and to discuss proposals for an interim government. He said he would return only if invited.
But in the last few days some Shiites in the Iraqi Governing Council, including former exile leader Ahmed Chalabi, voiced opposition to a U.N. return, mainly because Brahimi and Annan had advised against direct elections before June.
However, Brahimi told reporters earlier in the week that the Shiite spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani had contacted the United Nations through an aide to say he welcomed a return of the world body.
Eckhard said the security situation would be evaluated before an electoral team would return. “But we are continuing long-term planning for a return to Iraq,” he said.
The United Nations is extremely sensitive about security. It pulled out its international staff in late October as a result of a bombing of U.N. offices on Aug. 19. Twenty-three staff and visitors, including the the head of mission, Sergio Vieira de Mello, were killed.
