Emerging from what he called a very frank and open exchange of views with top coalition and Iraqi officials, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said January 19th he is considering a request by the parties that he send an advisory team to Iraq to examine the feasibility of elections before the end of June as well as possible alternatives.
Mr. Annan told a press conference following talks in New York with members of the Iraqi Governing Council and representatives of the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) the UN was going to be active in recovery, reconstruction, humanitarian and human rights activities in Iraq.
But on a possible UN role prior to the return of Iraqi sovereignty at the end of June, “we have agreed that further discussions should take place at the technical level, which would be focused on the most immediate electoral and security issues,” Mr. Annan said after his meeting at UN Headquarters with an Iraqi delegation led by current President Adnan Pachachi, and the CPA, led by the senior US Administrator, L. Paul Bremer.
Speaking at a separate press conference, Governing Council member Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim said Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has called for direct elections, would like a technical committee to examine the holding of elections in Iraq.
On the basis of those discussions, I will be in a better position to take decisions about what the UN can do to help, particularly regarding the possible dispatch of a mission to Iraq to advise on elections, he added, referring to a request today by both delegations that the UN quickly send a team to Iraq to make recommendations on the feasibility of elections within the next few months and what alternatives might be possible.
Kilde: pressemeddelelse fra FN 19. januar.
