UN Expected to Intervene in Iraqi Election Dispute

20/01/2004| IslamWeb

The United Nations is considering sending a team to Iraq to explore whether direct elections could be held before power is transferred in June. After talks with Iraq's interim leaders in New York, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said a decision would be made after final discussions. But a senior UN diplomat said Mr Annan had already decided to send a team. On Monday, thousands of Shia Muslims marched in Baghdad against coalition plans for an appointed government. Under the US plan, regional bodies created by the Americans will select a transitional parliament by the end of May, with direct elections to follow in 2005. The US has sought the return to Iraq of UN staff, who were withdrawn after a massive bomb attack on the organisation's offices in Baghdad last August which killed 23 people, including special envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello. **Advice on the Ground*** Mr Annan said he was studying a request from the US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, and members of the Iraqi Governing Council to send a team to Iraq to examine the feasibility of holding direct elections by May. "I am looking at the possibility of sending a mission to Iraq to offer advice on the ground," Mr Annan told reporters. Iraq's Shia majority have held mass protests in recent days demanding direct elections. Mr Annan said plans on both sides were "open to refinements". Mr Bremer said Iraq's interim leaders hoped the UN "will return to replay a role in Iraq and we hope this happens soon", although the secretary general said any return by the UN to Iraq would be gradual. **Mass Rally*** Monday's protest saw tens of thousands of Iraqis marching through the capital, many clasping each other's hands above their heads. "Yes, yes to elections; no, no to selection," was one of the main rallying cries. The rally in Baghdad came four days after a peaceful protest in Basra demanding direct elections. Any sustained opposition by Iraq's Shias would cause serious problems for the US, correspondents say. The protests add strength to the opposition voiced by Iraq's top Shia scholar, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, whose support is seen as key to legitimising an Iraqi-led administration. **PHOTO CAPTION*** United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan (C) shows members of the Iraqi Governing Council to their seats before their meeting in Annan's office at the U.N. in New York January 19, 2004. The United Nations considered a request from Iraqi leaders and the U.S. administrator to send a mission to Baghdad that might salvage plans for putting a provisional government in place by July. Photo by Henny Ray Abrams/Reuters