Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

12 April 2005 – A veteran South African constitutional expert, who is a long-time legal adviser to former President Nelson Mandela and has been involved in the Burundi peace process, has been designated to lead the United Nations team helping Iraqis write their new constitution in anticipation that a request for such assistance will be forthcoming.

Nicholas Fink Haysom, who advised Mr. Mandela throughout his term in office and continues to do so in connection with his private initiatives, is already in the region along with a small team, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told a news briefing today in New York.

Mr. Haysom has been involved in Burundi's peace talks as chairman of the committee negotiating constitutional issues and has worked as a consultant on constitutional reform, conflict resolution and good governance in Lebanon, Nigeria, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Sudan, Somalia and Sri Lanka among other places.

Ever since Iraq elected a transitional National Assembly in January with the principal goal of writing a new constitution, UN officials have repeatedly offered their expertise in the task, most recently in the Security Council yesterday when Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative Ashraf Qazi presented the latest UN report on the country.