UNITED NATIONS, Jan 19: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is seeking a clear mandate for a United Nations role in convincing Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini Al-Sistani that direct elections are not feasible or to suggest a workable compromise, diplomats said here.

On Monday as the talks opened between the US-selected Iraqi governing council and Paul Bremer, the American administrator in Iraq, the US was expected to press Mr Annan and the UN Security Council members to return to Baghdad and assume a prominent role.

Ayatollah Al-Sistani wants direct elections, instead of the US-proposed indirect elections like caucuses in the provinces, and his second proposal is for the coalition previsional government to hand over power to the Iraqi governing council and leave.

In an exchange of letters with the Iraqi council, Mr Annan has already advised against direct elections as demanded by Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani. Mr Annan has reasoned there is not enough time to organize elections before an Iraqi provisional government takes power this summer. But Al-Sistani believes that if the United Nations were on the ground in Iraq, it would better understand the Shiite view. The United States and the Iraqi council agreed last November on regional caucuses to select members of a new assembly that will choose a transitional government by June 30. However, Al-Sistani and his supporters who believe they can command a majority are demanding direct elections.

Adnan Pachachi, the president of the Iraqi council, would like the United Nations to intervene to prevent a showdown between the US-led coalition and Al-Sistani and send in a team.

While coalition officials are pressing for a speedy return of the UN staff pulled out of Iraq after two bombings last year, Mr Annan has stated repeatedly that the security conditions there are still too dangerous. Sunday's suicide bombing at the gates of the US-led coalition headquarters in Baghdad, which killed about 20 people, was likely to reinforce that view.