BAGHDAD, Jan 11: Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council unveiled on Sunday guidelines banning senior members of the ousted Baath party from public sector jobs and will soon announce measures to root out them out of private sector and trade associations.

Council member and head of the De-Baathification Commission Ahmad Chalabi also said the council will approve within the next two days a law on the restitution of property "illegally possessed" by the previous regime, at a press conference in Baghdad.

Chalabi said the "de-Baathification guidelines" apply for now to the public sector, but that his commission "will publish shortly similar guidelines for the private sector and professional associations."

He said about 28,000 senior Baathists have already been removed from public posts and estimated an equal number are expected to be sacked in the future. He added that the process must be accelerated because it is a "prerequisite to restoring normal life in Iraq."

Like the May decree issued by Iraq's US overseer Paul Bremer, the guidelines reiterate that full members of the Baath party holding the ranks of regional command member, branch member, section member and group member will be dismissed from their positions in the public sector.

It also bans any full Baath party members from the three top posts at ministries or government institutions. The only major difference between the guidelines and the May decree is the widening of the category of those eligible to appeal their dismissal to include all fourth-level members.

"People who are members of 'firqah' (group) and below who have been dismissed can appeal," said Chalabi. A committee within each state organization will first look into the appeal and if the decision is favourable it will be submitted to the commission for final approval, he said.-AFP