*EPF408 10/02/2003
U.S. Presents Revised Iraq Resolution to U.N. Security Council
(Negroponte says draft clarifies pace of power transfer to Iraqis) (1310)

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Corresepondent

United Nations -- The United States has given the Security Council a revised resolution on Iraq that offers clarification on the issue of Iraqi sovereignty, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said October 2.

"Our text seeks to clarify that Iraqi sovereignty resides with the state of Iraq and that the issue at hand is the pace of Iraqi assumption of authority and responsibility for their own affairs," Negroponte told journalists after a closed Security Council meeting during which he presented the new draft.

Negroponte, who is president of the council for the month of October, said that council members exchanged ideas and posed questions about the draft. The other 14 members will be "soliciting reactions from the capitals," he said, and a second meeting has been scheduled for October 6.

"We think it deserves strong support," the ambassador said. "A couple of delegations have already offered to co-sponsor it at this stage."

"We're encouraged by what we see to be an emerging convergence among the 15 members of the Security Council," said Negroponte, who is the chief U.S. representative to the U.N.

"We all recognize the importance of restoring security and fostering a successful economic recovery for Iraq. We all agree that Iraqis must move quickly and in an orderly fashion towards full assumption of authority and responsibility and that the international community must do everything possible to support this crucial process. The success of the Iraqi people in building a prosperous, stable, and representative Iraq is in everybody's interest," he said.

At a press conference in Washington October 2, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the U.S. approach to the resolution "simply is to make it clear in the language ... that the United States is anxious to return full authority to the Iraqi people as quickly as possible, but at the same time, recognizing that much work has to be done before one can do that."

"Ministries have to come up, institutions have to be in place, a constitution has to be in place, otherwise, what are you resting the nation on? To whom are you giving authority, and with what authority will they act unless it's the authority contained in the constitution and unless the people in charge of executing that constitution have the legitimacy of a election based on that constitution," Powell said.

"That takes time, and as much as we would all like to see it happen tomorrow, it will take time," the secretary of state said.

The United States initially circulated a draft resolution that included, among other things, an expanded role for the United Nations and a start of the process toward Iraqi self government in August. The draft has been the subject of intense negotiations during the opening of the General Assembly in September when President Bush, other heads of state and foreign ministers were in New York for the session. The new draft is a result of those talks.

Negroponte said that in the new version the United States clarifies the sovereignty issue and "reinforces the goal that all of us share: that the day when Iraqis govern themselves must come quickly."

The text also urges the Iraqis to complete their political transition process expeditiously, and it includes numerous references to "the desirability of achieving this goal of political transition as quickly as possible," the ambassador said.

The draft resolution underscores the fact that the Coalition Provisional Authority "is temporary and confirms that the coalition remains engaged in the ongoing process of transferring responsibility to the Iraqis as quickly as practicable," he said.

Negroponte said that the United States is "very much in favor" of turning governmental functions over to the Iraqi ministries "as rapidly as we possibly can." He pointed out that the draft "also talks about the evolving structure of the Iraqi government and the importance of transferring tasks and responsibilities carried out by the coalition to those various Iraqi ministries."

The U.S. draft "invites the (Iraqi) Governing Council to propose a timetable ... for the drafting of a constitution, then the subsequent conduct of elections," the ambassador said.

"Details of implementing the framework -- that is going to have to be thrashed out in Baghdad by the Governing Council," he said.

The differences among Security Council members center around the sequence of drafting a constitution, elections, and establishing a government, Negroponte said.

The United States sees the drafting of a constitution first, then holding elections, "and after that and only after that would full governmental functions be handed over to the Iraqis," the ambassador said.

"We believe that is a sound and systematic way forward with respect to the political process," he said.

The revised text also details "an expanded and explicit role for the United Nations, especially in the political transition process," Negroponte said. In the text, the council would "encourage the secretary general to pursue the specific course of action he proposed in his July 17 report, notably the various tasks enumerated therein drawing on U.N. expertise in the political, economic and humanitarian areas."

"We explicitly define the mission of the multinational force to include the maintenance of security conditions necessary to carry out the political transition process, and we also make clear that the Security Council will review the multinational force's mission once an internationally recognized representative Iraqi government is in place," the U.S. ambassador said.

"We're very mindful of the importance and vital role that the United Nations can play in Iraq and our draft reflects that awareness," Negroponte continued.

Since the August 19 bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad killing 22 people including U.N. special envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations has been redeploying international staff to other countries in the region. Currently only about 30 out of more than 600 staff remain in Iraq. Secretary General Kofi Annan has said that the United Nations can only operate in a secure environment. Without that, "it's going to be extremely difficult for us to take on major responsibilities," he said October 2.

In his July report, the secretary general said that the U.N. could oversee the delivery of humanitarian assistance; help with the political process; implement the rehabilitation of the courts and support a Judicial Training Center; establish an Iraqi media center; help assess economic reconstruction and development projects; and help the Iraqi interim administration rejoin the international community.

Negroponte said that the United States is "mindful of the very difficult security situation."

"One of the objectives (of the resolution) is to encourage the restoration of stability and security in Iraq as quickly as possible -- both through the actions of the coalition, through the actions of other countries that are now, or in the future, willing to contribute forces to Iraq, and through the training of their security forces," he said.

"Clearly, security conditions have to be sufficient for (the U.N.) to be able to operate there. Everybody is working very hard on that," the ambassador added. "But we would hope those conditions will exist in the very near future."

The resolution would also provide for the multinational force to be under a U.N. authorized unified command, but it would not be a U.N.-directed, or so-called blue helmet, operation, the ambassador pointed out. The United States would command the force and report periodically to the Security Council on the exercise of the force's duties, Negroponte said.

"Nobody has suggested this be a blue helmet or U.N. operation. That has been the concept from the outset," he said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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