UNITED NATIONS, June 5: In a compromise, the United States and Britain circulated a third revised version of the United Nations resolution which will give the new interim Iraqi government authority to ask for withdrawal of the US coalition forces from their country.
The revised resolution could be adopted next week by consensus, diplomats told Dawn here on Saturday.
The original resolution had stipulated that the government that is to take office after national elections no later than January 2005 would have the authority to ask the US-led multinational force to leave. "The sovereign government," including the interim leaders named earlier this week, is given that power in the new version of the resolution.
Pakistan's UN ambassador Munir Akram, who proposed most significant changes in the resolution told Dawn that "that is the most important change."
"There may be more changes in the resolution following our meeting with UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Saturday," said Mr Akram, who, along with other council members, has gone to a UN retreat in Long Island for closed door discussion.
He was of the opinion that the resolution could be adopted by the Security Council next week.
"There are a few changes that are welcome because of the emphasis on sovereignty," said ambassador Abdallah Baali of Algeria, who is also a council member.
Another change asks the US to report to the UN Security Council on the situation in Iraq "within three months" and "on a quarterly basis thereafter," rather than "as appropriate and not less than every six months" in previous versions.
Other changes in the text emphasize the sovereignty of the interim government. New language declares that "full sovereignty" will be restored to Iraq on June 30 and that the interim government will have "primary" responsibility for coordinating international assistance.
"It is a result of our input," Iraqi interim foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari said at the UN in New York. "It is good that they are responding. Ongoing consultations will help everyone work toward a good resolution."
The US and British diplomats here said they want a vote on the resolution next week and have distributed the new proposal so that it can be discussed at a Security Council retreat over the weekend with Mr Zebari, UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and Mr Brahimi.
The new version says the "mandate for the multinational force shall be reviewed at the request of the sovereign government of Iraq or 12 months from the date of this resolution," and adds that "it will terminate this mandate earlier if requested by the sovereign government of Iraq."
