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Security Council hears from Iraqi delegation on UN's future role

19 January – The Security Council heard a briefing today on the future role of the United Nations in Iraq from top Iraqi officials, who said a return of the UN to the country was key to the process of restoring sovereignty to the Iraqi people.

Ambassador Heraldo Muñoz of Chile, which holds the Council's rotating Presidency for January, characterized the closed-door session with the Iraqi delegation, led by the Governing Council's current President, Adnan Pachachi, as a "constructive exchange of views."

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who also attended the discussion, met earlier Monday with the Iraqis as well as representatives from the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). During those talks, the parties asked the Secretary-General to quickly send an advisory team to Iraq to examine the feasibility of direct elections before the handover of sovereignty at the end of June, as well as possible alternatives.

Speaking to reporters after the session, Governing Council member Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim reiterated the wish of leading cleric Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has called for direct elections, for a "neutral" party to decide if such elections are possible prior to the transition of power to the Iraqis. "With that, we ask the United Nations to play its role and [uphold] its responsibility in this case," he said through an interpreter.

For his part, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Mahmud Muhammad al-Zibari told reporters everybody agreed that there was a need for the UN to move in and help the Iraqis in the political process.

Mr. al-Zibari said in his view the key issue over the next couple of weeks will be whether the UN will dispatch a mission to evaluate the feasibility of organizing elections. "But there is a general consensus among all members of the Security Council that we need the UN, we need it to be back in Iraq and to help move this political process forward," he added.