Uncle Sam
02-18-2004, 05:51 PM
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20040218/D80PTF1G1.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to support the Bush administration and advise against direct elections for an interim government in Iraq, but will delay further recommendations until he consults with other governments, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
Annan has decided to restrict his immediate conclusions to agreeing with the administration that the direct elections proposed by Shiite clerics are not feasible before July 1, said the official, on condition of anonymity.
The administration is looking to the United Nations to help clear hurdles to restoring self-rule in Iraq.
Annan is due to receive a firsthand report at the United Nations on Thursday from Lakhdar Brahimi, his special adviser who led a U.N. team to Iraq to assess election possibilities and other possible changes that might be acceptable to a wide range of Iraqi leaders.
U.S. transition plans include a complicated system of caucuses to choose an interim legislative assembly. Shiite clerics are demanding direct elections, while some members of the U.S.-chosen Iraqi Governing Council are reconsidering the plan they jointly adopted with the United States last November.
While waiting for a U.N. judgment, the Bush administration has let it be known it intends to stick to the July 1 deadline for transition to Iraqi self-rule but that all other provisions in the plan are subject to revision.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that he was keeping an open mind until he heard from Annan after Brahimi reported to the secretary-general.
After conferring with Brahimi, the official said, Annan intended to meet with ministers from some two dozen countries, including the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
The plan approved last November by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III and the Governing Council calls for caucuses to be held in Iraq's 18 provinces. Then 15-member selection committees, chosen by the Council and local councils, would screen participants who would select an interim assembly.
The U.S. occupation would end July 1, and direct elections would not be held in Iraq until next year.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday, "We'll hear from the secretary-general when he is ready, when they have formulated their ideas and want to talk to us."
"I'm sure there are a number of possibilities that we haven't thought of," Boucher said. "We haven't just made the trip to Iraq. We haven't talked to all the Iraqi people."
Objecting to the complex, indirect plan of selecting an interim assembly, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani and other Shiite clerics have demanded direct elections while some members of the Governing Council who approved the plan in the first place are said now to want to abandon the caucus approach and have the council assume sovereignty until elections are held.
Administration officials said this week that all provisions of the plan were open to changes except the July 1 deadline for transferring authority to Iraqis.
Among the suggestions under consideration is a system of partial elections - holding direct elections for the assembly in some parts of the country and caucuses in others.
John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in New York that Brahimi had indicated elections before June 30 were not possible.
"I think we will do our best to accommodate his suggestions. But obviously we'll have to wait and see what specifically he recommends," Negroponte said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to support the Bush administration and advise against direct elections for an interim government in Iraq, but will delay further recommendations until he consults with other governments, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
Annan has decided to restrict his immediate conclusions to agreeing with the administration that the direct elections proposed by Shiite clerics are not feasible before July 1, said the official, on condition of anonymity.
The administration is looking to the United Nations to help clear hurdles to restoring self-rule in Iraq.
Annan is due to receive a firsthand report at the United Nations on Thursday from Lakhdar Brahimi, his special adviser who led a U.N. team to Iraq to assess election possibilities and other possible changes that might be acceptable to a wide range of Iraqi leaders.
U.S. transition plans include a complicated system of caucuses to choose an interim legislative assembly. Shiite clerics are demanding direct elections, while some members of the U.S.-chosen Iraqi Governing Council are reconsidering the plan they jointly adopted with the United States last November.
While waiting for a U.N. judgment, the Bush administration has let it be known it intends to stick to the July 1 deadline for transition to Iraqi self-rule but that all other provisions in the plan are subject to revision.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that he was keeping an open mind until he heard from Annan after Brahimi reported to the secretary-general.
After conferring with Brahimi, the official said, Annan intended to meet with ministers from some two dozen countries, including the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
The plan approved last November by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III and the Governing Council calls for caucuses to be held in Iraq's 18 provinces. Then 15-member selection committees, chosen by the Council and local councils, would screen participants who would select an interim assembly.
The U.S. occupation would end July 1, and direct elections would not be held in Iraq until next year.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday, "We'll hear from the secretary-general when he is ready, when they have formulated their ideas and want to talk to us."
"I'm sure there are a number of possibilities that we haven't thought of," Boucher said. "We haven't just made the trip to Iraq. We haven't talked to all the Iraqi people."
Objecting to the complex, indirect plan of selecting an interim assembly, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani and other Shiite clerics have demanded direct elections while some members of the Governing Council who approved the plan in the first place are said now to want to abandon the caucus approach and have the council assume sovereignty until elections are held.
Administration officials said this week that all provisions of the plan were open to changes except the July 1 deadline for transferring authority to Iraqis.
Among the suggestions under consideration is a system of partial elections - holding direct elections for the assembly in some parts of the country and caucuses in others.
John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in New York that Brahimi had indicated elections before June 30 were not possible.
"I think we will do our best to accommodate his suggestions. But obviously we'll have to wait and see what specifically he recommends," Negroponte said.