WASHINGTON, April 16: Standing shoulder to shoulder, US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday all but endorsed a UN envoy's plan for returning Iraq to self-rule by their June 30 deadline.

"The prime minister and I have made our choice. Iraq will be free, Iraq will be independent, Iraq will be a peaceful nation, and we will not waver in the face of fear and intimidation," Mr Bush said at a joint press conference.

Mr Blair echoed his host's confidence that the June 30 timetable would survive what has been the deadliest fighting since Baghdad fell last year, but also warned that "as that date draws near, there's going to be violence".

Both leaders pointed approvingly to recommendations from UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who after consultations with various Iraqi groups has outlined a way for a caretaker government to take over from the US-led authority.

"We welcome the proposals presented by the UN special envoy, Brahimi. He's identified a way forward to establishing an interim government that is broadly acceptable to the Iraqi people," the president said.

Mr Brahimi has expressed confidence that an interim government can be installed in time with an eye on setting up a consultative assembly to run elections in January next year.

"There will be discussions, obviously, that Mr Brahimi's conducting, but the idea will be to have a broad-based government, and then next year to move to a new constitution and then finally to democratic elections," said Mr Blair.

Mr Blair pledged that the UN "will have a central role" in the transfer of power and called for a new Security Council resolution to "embody the political and security way forward".

Mr Blair also said the US and UK will "redouble our efforts" to empower Iraqi security forces. Some critics argue that the tough military action by occupation troops in Fallujah and Najaf has badly dented local support for the Western forces.

British officials insist the meeting with Mr Bush is merely a regular get-together between allies, but the killings, coupled with a rash of kidnappings in Iraq, has given it the air of an emergency summit. -AFP