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Diplomats at U.N. at Odds on Postwar Iraq
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Members of the U.N. Security Council on Monday suggested changes to a U.S. draft resolution on Iraq that has been criticized for not giving the United Nations a big enough role. But the council remained divided over how to rebuild Iraq's government. "Well Gunter, I guess we earned our per-diems today!" Council diplomats portrayed Monday's session as a constructive exchange of ideas over the revised draft, which called for a slightly expanded U.N. role. The draft appeared headed toward acceptance until U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said last week he wants only an ``indispensable role'' for the U.N. body or no political role at all. I'll take "no political role" for $800, Alex. The United States will now take council members' suggestions and amendment ideas back to Washington, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said. Neither he nor other diplomats would detail the changes being sought. ``We've reached a time to take a brief pause for everybody to digest what had been said and see how it affected our thinking,'' said Negroponte, who is also the president of the council for the month of October. When a reporter asked him whether the survival of the draft was at stake, he said: ``It has no implications along the lines you are suggesting, simply a pause to evaluate where we stand with respect to the draft.'' "I can say no more!" Diplomats said the 15-member council spent Monday's session Several council members agreed the next step - seeing what the United States brings back to the table - will be the most important for the fate of the resolution. ``The United Nations should have a larger role, a leading role in the process,'' said Chilean Ambassador Heraldo Munoz. ``We should be as clear as possible on the timetable. Those two things are very important to us.'' "And in return, of course, we offer nothing!" A French diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the United States did not appear ready to incorporate changes made by France and Germany, two leading opponents of the war. Wotta brilliant deduction! But Germany's U.N. Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said the discussions on the resolution were likely to continue but many delegates wanted the council to take Annan's criticism of the resolution into account. ``If the council is united, the political signal is stronger,'' he said after the meeting. In a way, if we stand alone the political signal is stronger, too. The French diplomat said that progress could be made if there was a totally new approach to the resolution, an idea that Annan has suggested and one United States is unlikely to accept. Annan wants a lead role for the United Nations if the world body were to play any political role in Iraq. Hey! The Daily Double! Whether there really is room for compromise is unclear because of the fundamental differences concerning two postwar issues - when to transfer power to Iraqis and what role the United Nations should play in stabilizing and rebuilding the war-battered country. France, along with Germany and Russia, has led the push for a quick handover of power to the Iraqis and a stronger role for the United Nations. French President Jacques Chirac had said last week he was disappointed with the latest draft. Chirac had spoken after Annan ruled out a U.N. political role as long as American and British forces are running Iraq. Annan made his views known to the council on Thursday. Annan wants the United States to hand over sovereignty within five months to an Iraqi provisional government, which could then take the two years or more the United Nations has found necessary to create a viable constitution and organize elections, a senior U.N. official said Friday. Why don't we let the Iraqis write their own constitution? With Iraqis in charge, Annan says, extremist attacks would hopefully diminish, other countries would be more likely to contribute troops and money and the United Nations, if asked, could help oversee the political transition to a democracy, according to the official. With the UN in charge we'll see more boomers and dead-ender attacks. At the heart of Annan's concern is security for U.N. staff in Iraq following two bombings at world body headquarters in Baghdad in a month that killed 22 people and injured more than 150. The secretary-general has pulled out more than 90 percent of the U.N.'s international staff, leaving only a few dozen essential people in the country. And it ought to stay that way. But the United States rejected Annan's recommendation, sticking instead to its agenda of having the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council adopt a constitution, hopefully within six months, then hold elections six months after that. Power would be relinquished only after an elected government is installed. The U.S. draft resolution on Iraq asks both the United Nations and the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority to help the Governing Council adopt a constitution, hold elections and train civil servants. It endorses a step-by-step transfer of authority to an Iraqi interim administration but sets no timetable. Annan is willing to risk putting significant numbers of U.N. staff back in the country - but only if the United Nations is playing ``an indispensable role.'' Secretary of State Colin Powell assured Annan on Friday that the Bush administration is trying to assign the United Nations a significant role in Iraq's future. "Marvin, I need a word that rhymes with indispensable." "Well, Mr. Secretary, there's 'despicable'." "That, Marvin, is why you're not Secretary of State." "Well sir, it DOES rhyme." "That it does, Marvin, that it does." Posted by: Steve White 2003-10-07 |
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