June 2, 2003	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 1, 1424

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BAGHDAD, June 1: The US-led team in Iraq said on Sunday that an interim Iraqi administration would be put in place within six weeks, headed by a political council that would act as a fledgling government.

The coalition would appoint the council following wide-ranging consultations with Iraqis after it decided to scrap a long-promised national political conference, officials said on condition of anonymity.

The 25-to 30-strong body would advise the occupation administration on the whole range of policy issues, economic as well as political, and would name advisors to all Iraqi ministries who would be interim ministers in waiting.

The political council would also debate, ratify and put to a referendum a new constitution to be drawn up by a separate convention to be launched within two months.

“This council will emerge as the face of the Iraqi people in its interactions with the coalition provisional authority (CPA),” one senior official told reporters.

The official stressed that the interim administration would not be a sovereign government and that “ultimate authority” would remain with the CPA until it handed over power to a democratically elected government.

The new vision was presented on Sunday to a seven-strong leadership council, consisting mainly of former exiles, which had previously been the occupation administration’s principal Iraqi interlocutor.—AFP