BAGHDAD, May 17: The US-led administration in Iraq banned senior members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party from returning to government posts but after talks with Iraqi leaders appeared to back away from a looming deadline to form new democratic institutions to take its place.

The new US boss here, Paul Bremer, who has repeatedly pledged to wipe out the remains of Saddam’s regime since taking up his post less than a week ago, on Friday banned all top Baath members from public sector jobs.

The decree came amid growing fear among Iraqis that the regime could claw its way back to power as government ministries re-open and the US-led coalition tries to speed up the return of normal day-to-day life.

An official from the US Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) said the move could affect between 15,000 and 30,000 senior Baath members.

Bremer’s written decree said Baath leaders were banned from “positions of authority and responsibility in Iraqi society” so that “representative government in Iraq is not threatened.”

The ban was to apply to state institutions like universities and hospitals, state-run firms and civil servants.

After talks with a seven-member council of Iraqi politicians late Friday, Bremer said he had their blessing for his new tough policy.

“We agreed on the importance of the process of de-Baathification,” Bremer said.

The decree marked a change in emphasis from the US-led administration which had been prepared to work with some former Baathists to get Iraq back on its feet amid criticism of its tardiness in restoring order and basic services.

After the talks with Iraqi leaders, the top British envoy in Iraq, John Sawers, said the ban was only the “first step of the de-Baathification process”.

But the new policy drew criticism from Baath apparatchiks who have stayed on to provide continuity.

“It was very clever of the Americans to keep the managers in their offices because they have the technical ability,” said the health director in the former Saddam stronghold of Tikrit, Dr Abdullah al-Abawi.

“This decision leaves us very unstable.”

At Baghdad university, hundreds of students returned Saturday in the hope of resuming their studies, only to find teaching staff would be preoccupied for days with US-sponsored elections aimed at weeding out the Baathists who used to dominate academic life.

“The old university leadership is going to be replaced. There’s a need of change,” said Andrew Erdmann, US adviser to the education ministry.—AFP