NEW YORK, Sept 13: United States President George W. Bush said on Friday that he wanted the United Nations to act on proposals regarding Iraq in days or weeks.

Speaking at a media briefing, he also chided the opposition Democratic Party congressional leaders for refusing to take up his Iraq proposal until the UN acts.

“I can’t imagine an elected ... member of the United States Senate or House of Representatives saying ‘I think I’m going to wait for the United Nations to make a decision’.”

He added: “It seems ... to me that if you’re representing the United States you ought to be making a decision on what’s best for the United States.”

Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, had said he had not yet seen enough evidence to justify going to war against Saddam.

In a meeting with African leaders, Bush reiterated his request for a UN resolution “as soon as possible,” demanding that Saddam disarm his weapons programmes.

“We’re talking (of) days and weeks, not months and years,” the president said in outlining his request for a UN-imposed deadline on Saddam.

“That’s essential for the safety of the world,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, US officials at the UN have intensified their efforts to move the UN toward passing new resolutions that require Saddam Hussein to destroy his weapons arsenals or risk military action after a decade of “Iraqi intransigence.”

A day after Bush told the world body that inaction would render it irrelevant, officials at the US mission in the UN told journalists that the White House wanted a UN resolution in “days and weeks, and certainly not months.”

Secretary of State Colin Powell would huddle with UN diplomats on Friday to work on a resolution setting a deadline for Iraq to disarm, the officials said.

But diplomats said the drafting of any resolution would not begin for about a week, after ministers returned home from the annual opening of the UN General Assembly.

Diplomats also said Powell has his work cut out for him. A council resolution must have nine votes in favour and no veto from any of its five permanent members. The other 10 council members are: Bulgaria, Cameroon, Colombia, Guinea, Ireland, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Singapore and Syria.

Russia, Iraq’s closest ally on the council, so far has not given any sign it would support force against Baghdad. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is expected to emphasize in his speech late Friday the importance of UN decisions.

Of the other permanent members of the Security Council, Britain is considered firmly behind US policy on Iraq. A French proposal on Iraq is not dissimilar from what Bush is seeking. And China on Friday indicated it would seek an “active” role in hammering out an Iraq resolution.

A statement from Beijing indicated that China might be more receptive to action on Iraq than 10 years ago when it abstained from almost all UN Security Council votes in the run-up to the 1991 Gulf War.

Despite often vehement opposition to Washington’s open plan to effect “regime change” in Iraq, Bush’s UN speech appeared to begin to turn the tide of opinion.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters after Bush’s speech, said the address gave him hope.

Moussa said there “was still room for talks, and as (UN Secretary-General Kofi) Annan said today, talks should be given enough time to bear fruit.”