Annan, Negroponte to Meet, Discuss Iraq
Friday January 9, 2004 7:46 PM
By NICK WADHAMS
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations needs to hear from the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi leaders before deciding whether to return to Iraq, but Secretary-General Kofi Annan has concrete ideas about what role the world body should play, officials said.
Annan planned to meet later Friday with John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and British Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry to discuss a Jan. 19 meeting that will focus on the United Nation's future in Iraq.
Annan wants the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council to clarify the U.N. role during and possibly after the transition to Iraqi sovereignty. The coalition plans to hand over power on June 30.
(snip)
Annan pulled U.N. international staff out of Iraq after a deadly suicide bombing on its Baghdad headquarters in August and has said the country is still not safe enough to return.
Annan met with Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Thursday. Hagel, a leading backer of the United Nations, said they discussed the Jan. 19 meeting, and agreed that getting U.N. workers back into Iraq quickly was crucial.
``I believe that the secretary-general does have some very specific ideas about how the U.N. could participate,'' Hagel said. He repeated his belief that having the United Nations in Iraq in a prominent role would bring international legitimacy to U.S. work there.
more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3606596,00.html