The United States has revised its resolution on Iraq with a purpose to attract more support in the United Nations, but it came out awful for what the United Nations General Secretary Kofi Annan said "not going in the direction" as recommended.
Annan criticized the revised draft for being short of addressing his security concerns -- two ghastly bombs on UN office in Iraq have driven out most UN relief workers.
A UN official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that Annan's public criticism has enormous impact on the 15-member UN Security Council.
US Ambassador to the UN John Negroponte, who is holding the presidency of the Security Council for October, also said it took time to iron out differences.
The US government is trying to win passage of the resolution so that more countries can commit troops and money to Iraq.
The new draft was circulated last week among the Security Council permanent members -- the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia. And two closed-door meetings have been held on it, but differences over "timetable" and "UN's role" have got the draft nowhere.
The revised version states clearly the "temporary" nature of the occupation of Iraq and advocates "progressive" transfer of power to Iraqis.
It "invites" the Iraqi Governing Council, installed by the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority, to come up with a timetable and a program for a constitution and election, instead of clearly setting concrete timetable for the process. Before the election, the Authority will exercise governance.
Russia, Germany, France and Kofi Annan, whereas, all want a quick transfer of power to a provisional Iraqi government that would then draft a constitution and hold elections within two years.
It assigns a bigger but not dominant role to the United Nations in Iraq's reconstruction or political process. The resolution said the United Nations should coordinate with the Coalition Provisional Authority in helping the Governing Council implement the timetable.
As far as a possible multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq is concerned, the United States said the troops should stay in Iraq at least until an Iraqi government is elected and takes over the country from the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Russia has rejected the US suggestion, saying the United Nations should have a final say in the mandate of the troops. It has proposed a renewable one-year mandate for such a multinational force.
"Obviously, it's not going in the direction I had recommended," Annan has said.
Germany's UN Ambassador Gunter Pleuger has also said that Annan "is not willing to risk the lives of his people for some menial role and not really the leading role that we all want it to play."
(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2003)
