Iraqi minister tells UN to stop sniping, start helping

[Dionysos]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...1514&ncid=1480

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Iraq (news - web sites)'s foreign minister told the UN Security Council to stop bickering over the war that brought down Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and focus on rebuilding the shattered nation.

In an occasionally pointed address delivered with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) on hand, Hoshyar Zebari hit back at critics of the war and told the 15-nation council it should stop playing politics with Iraq's future.

"Settling scores with the United States-led coalition should not be at the cost of helping to bring stability to the Iraqi people," Zebari told the council, which has been strongly divided over the war and its aftermath.

"Squabbling over political differences takes a back seat to the daily struggle for security, jobs, basic freedoms and all the rights the UN is chartered to uphold," he said.

Tuesday's meeting was called to discuss the transition of political power in Iraq, where the United States and its handpicked Iraqi Governing Council are due to handover to an interim Iraqi government by the end of June.

Security Council members France, Germany and Russia, which led opposition to the US-led war on Iraq, do not want the United States to oversee all of the political transition and want the United Nations (news - web sites) to play a major role.

But Annan, who pulled his international staff out of Baghdad after a series of deadly attacks, including an August suicide bombing that killed 22 people at UN headquarters, said he wants a clear outline of the UN's role before risking the lives of more UN personnel.

"We need much greater clarity on what is expected of the United Nations by Iraqis and by the coalition in terms of assistance to the political transition," he said.

"In taking the difficult decisions that lie ahead, I need to weigh the degree of risk that the United Nations is being asked to accept against the substance of the role we are being asked to fulfil."

He said that until security improves, his Iraq team will be based in Nicosia, Cyprus and Amman, Jordan. But Zebari said: "Your help and expertise cannot be effectively delivered from Cyprus or Amman."

Zebari also took aim at Security Council powers like France which have suggested that the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council does not have political legitimacy.

"As Iraqis, we strongly disagree with those of you that question the legitimacy of the present Iraqi authorities," he said.

"The governing council is the most representative and democratic governing body in the region."

Speaking before Zebari, Annan said Saturday's capture of former dictator Saddam Hussein was a chance for Iraqis to "create a secure, stable and independent Iraq" and put aside the problems of the past.

"It is right that Mr Hussein should be held to account for his past deeds, through a procedure that meets the highest international standards of due process," he told the council.

"Accounting for the past will be an important part of bringing about national reconciliation," said Annan.

US ambassador John Negroponte said Monday that the United States hopes the capture of Saddam will unite the council behind its plan for rebuilding of Iraq and establishing an interim Iraqi government.

Under an agreement reached November 15 between the United States and the Governing Council, sovereignty would be handed to a provisional government before the end of June. Proper elections would not be held until 2005.

But Iraqis are divided over the process and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's highest-ranking Shiite cleric, wants immediate general elections.