UNITED NATIONS, Jan 24: A two-member team of the United Nations arrived in Iraq on Friday for talks with the coalition on various security matters, a UN spokesman here confirmed.
The spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the first team, arranged several weeks ago, would be joined by other security staff, who would assess safety for the electoral mission.
US President George Bush, under pressure to resolve the Iraqi election issue before June, called for a quick decision from the United Nations on sending an electoral team to Iraq to look at the issue.
Mr Bush on Thursday met Lakhdar Brahimi, special adviser to UN secretary-general, whom Washington wants to play a leading role in Iraq. Mr Brahimi also met Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and so far had resisted US pressure to go to Baghdad.
The Bush administration wants Mr Brahimi, who has just finished his two-year stint as the chief UN envoy in Afghanistan, to head a future UN mission in Iraq.
After scoffing at the United Nations for not having supported the US-led invasion, Washington wants Kofi Annan to salvage plans for a transfer of power to Iraqis by a June 30 deadline and send experts to Iraq.
Iraq's leading religious leader Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani has demanded direct elections that would give greater representation to the 15 million Shia majority.
Diplomats expect Mr Annan to approve the electoral mission that will study the feasibility of direct elections, as Shia leaders want, or make alternate proposals.
This team, also requested by the US-selected Iraqi Governing Council, is not expected to arrive in Baghdad before next month.
"We're hoping for a quick response from the United Nations on the request by the Governing Council," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
The United States prefers indirect elections for a new assembly through a system of complicated caucuses in each of Iraq's 18 provinces. The assembly would elect the provisional government.
The UN team has its work cut-out, with proposals multiplying. Adnan Pachachi, current chairman of Iraq's Governing Council, wants expansion of this body as an alternative to legislative elections.
US officials were optimistic that Kofi Annan would send a team. Mr Annan, travelling in Europe, is expected to announce his decision as early as Monday, officials here said.
The United Nations pulled out of Iraq in October following two bomb attacks that killed 22 staff and visitors, including UN mission chief Sergio Vieira de Mello.
One US official said Mr Powell spoke by phone to Mr Annan to discuss the political transition in Iraq and that Mr Annan mentioned concerns about security in Iraq, which Mr Powell acknowledged as an issue.
