UNITED NATIONS, Sept 16: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a BBC TV interview on Wednesday he believes that the US-led invasion of Iraq was "illegal" and cast doubts on plans to hold elections in the country.

Mr Annan said a second draft resolution should have been moved at the UN Security Council and that only after its approval, the invasion would have become legal.

In Nov 2002, the council had adopted a resolution asking Iraq to disclose its alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction or "face the consequences". But most observers at the time thought the resolution was not an explicit approval for an invasion and that a second resolution was necessary for lending legality to any action against Iraq.

Mr Annan found himself in the eye of a storm following the interview. He was asked repeatedly whether he considered the war illegal. To this he said: "Yes, if you wish. I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN Charter from our point of view, from the chapter point of view, it was illegal."

"I hope we don't see another Iraq-type operation for a long time ... without UN approval and much broader support from the international community," Mr Annan added. He also spoke about the situation in Sudan and the roadmap to peace in the Middle East, which, he said, was in deep distress.

Asked about the Middle East and the roadmap launched last year, Mr Annan said "the roadmap is in deep, deep distress - it's in deep distress. We haven't given it up yet.

I know that statements have been made by leaders in the region, implying that they are moving away from the roadmap and I think in fact the 'quartet' (a group consisting of the UN, EU, US and Russia) is going to be meeting next week. I don't know what sort of a meeting we are going to have to discuss the developments on the ground which have become very complex and very difficult."

Mr Annan observed "they have problems on the Palestinian side and there are political problems on the Israeli side and of course we also have elections here in this country (USA) and we need to assess where we are and where we go from here and try and anticipate how things are going to evolve and what action we as the quartet would".

Asked whether elections in Iraq could be held under the present precarious security situation, Mr Annan said: "You cannot have credible elections if the security conditions continue as they are now. There's a lot that needs to be done.

We have helped the Iraqis set up a legal framework for elections. Despite the security situation, I took a calculated risk and sent in two teams: one led by [Lakhdar] Brahimi, that helped them set up the interim government and another one led by Karina Pereira, who is the head of our electoral division and we helped them set up the legal framework for election political parties law, an independent electoral commission. And we've had some of the officers trained in Mexico and ready to go."

AGENCIES ADD: Faced with Kofi Annan's charge, US President George Bush implied on Thursday that the invasion enjoyed UN support. At a campaign rally in St Cloud, Mr Bush also accused Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry of sending dangerous "mixed signals" to friend and foe alike with his explanations of his stance on the invasion.

"Mixed signals are the wrong signals to send to our troops in the field, the Iraqi people, to our allies and most of all to our enemies," said Mr Bush, who has accused his rival of being fickle on national security.

"It is critical that the president of the United States speak clearly and consistently in this time of great threat in the world and not change positions because of expediency or pressure," said the president.

He did not directly address Mr Annan's comment to the BBC that failure to secure explicit UN Security Council approval for the invasion meant that: "From the (UN) charter point of view it was illegal."