April 8, 2003	Tuesday	Safar 5, 1424

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UNITED NATIONS, April 7: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday a significant United Nations role in Iraq would bring international legitimacy to any new Iraqi government.

“There are lots of areas the United Nations can play a role, but above all the United Nations involvement does bring legitimacy, which is necessary for the country, for the region and for the peoples around the world,” he told reporters before a meeting of the 15-member United Nations Security Council.

Annan spoke ahead of the meeting that he requested over the weekend to discuss the United Nations involvement in post-war Iraq.

The Security Council remains deeply divided over Iraq, and Annan spent last week in a series of private meetings with United Nations delegations in search of consensus on a way forward.

Annan said he had called together the Security Council’s 15 members to discuss the developments on the ground in Iraq and the post-war situation.

He said the United Nations had significant international experience in reconstruction, political transitions, the rule of law, and the protection of human rights.

Asked about preparatory moves by retired United States Lt-Gen Jay Garner, who heads the Pentagon’s Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, to quickly establish an interim civilian administration, Annan said he saw that as “part of the war effort.”

Garner’s mission was “eventually to try to pacify the situation and secure the environment before one moves on to the next stage,” he said.

The United States expects to set up an interim administration to run the oil-rich country for at least several months once the fighting ends, arguing it has risked its soldiers’ lives and spent billions of dollars to topple Baghdad regime.

The vast majority of world governments, including United States military partners Britain and Australia, want to see United Nations involvement in Iraq after the war.

Many in the Arab world, in particular, favour a United Nations presence to address fears that Washington laun-ched the war to seize Iraq’s oil riches.

But Washington so far has given little indication what post-war role it thinks the international community could play besides helping pay the bills for reconstruction and humanitarian aid.

“There will definitely be a United Nations role but what the exact nature of that role will be remains to be seen,” United States Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Brussels on Thursday, in response to European Union pleas for a significant United Nations post-war role.

Annan said: “Iraqis have to be responsible for their political future and to control their own natural resources, and whatever one can do to help the emergence of the new leadership in a new situation is what one should focus on.”