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Head of UN team continues talks with cross-section of Iraqi groups

12 February 2004 – The head of the United Nations team in Iraq studying early elections continued his consultations today with a cross-section of Iraqi groups, including a meeting with a leading Shiite cleric.

Lakhdar Brahimi, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Adviser for Iraq, met for over two hours with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a UN spokesman said, and told the press afterward in Arabic that they discussed "the deep suffering of the Iraqi people and the need to help this nation out of this ordeal and out of this long, dark tunnel, to a new Iraq, united, and independent and rebuilding itself."

In a brief interview later with CNN, Mr. Brahimi said of his talks with the Iraqis, "What is encouraging is that I think they want to go towards the rule of law, they want to go towards a government that is representative and they all agree that this can best be done through elections. The question is, when are these elections possible?"

This afternoon, Mr. Brahimi met with a traditional leader, or sheikh, and the representative of a woman's group. He also chatted with members of the Society of Students and Youth of Iraq before meeting with a group of Sunni Muslim clerics.

In New York, spokesman Fred Eckhard said the Secretary-General understood there was a consensus emerging from the team's contacts "that direct national elections are the best way to establish a parliament and government in Iraq that are fully representative and legitimate."

"At the same time, there is wide agreement that elections must be carefully prepared, and that they must be organized in technical, security and political conditions that give the best chance of producing a result that reflects the wishes of the Iraqi electorate and thus contributes to long-term peace and stability in Iraq," he said at a press briefing.

The spokesman noted that Mr. Brahimi has been briefing the Secretary-General regularly on his talks in Iraq and on the progress of the UN fact-finding team. "The team has had contact with a wide range of Iraqi opinion, and has been listening to the views expressed by Iraqis on the best means of effecting a peaceful and stable transition," he added.

Mr. Annan will be briefed fully next week when Mr. Brahimi returns to New York after participating in the meeting this weekend in Kuwait of Foreign Ministers of countries bordering Iraq, and of Egypt, the spokesman added.