US to ask for UN aid in transfer of power to Iraqis

US: In a further change in its strategy on returning power to Iraqis, the Bush administration is to ask the United Nations on…

US: In a further change in its strategy on returning power to Iraqis, the Bush administration is to ask the United Nations on Monday to return to Baghdad and play a role in the formation of an interim government, writes Conor O'Clery North America Editor in New York

UN Secretary General Koffi Anan is said to be wary, however, of simply giving a "rubber stamp" to an American-formulated plan that does not have sufficient legitimacy.

However, Mr Anan has invited US and Iraqi officials to meet him at the UN headquarters in New York on Monday to discuss the UN contribution to the political process, from which it was initially sidelined by the US.

The UN is also to send a team of experts to Baghdad later in January to assess security there.

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The change in US attitude to the UN comes as pressure increases from majority Shia leaders for early direct elections.

"We want to have the UN playing a leading role but we don't see the Americans accepting that opportunity now, and Koffi Anan has his conditions for a legitimate government," said a senior Security Council diplomat.

France, Germany and Russia want to see the UN play a leading role in establishing a government "with as much legitimacy as possible," the diplomat said.

The White House stated yesterday it would consider proposals "to refine or improve" its plan for turning over power in Iraq, but insisted it is sticking with the framework of an agreement that calls for an unelected, temporary government by July 1st.

The chief US administrator in Baghdad, Mr Paul Bremer, arrived in Washington yesterday for urgent talks with President George Bush, national security adviser Ms Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell, before travelling on to New York.

A leading Shia cleric in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, is pressing for direct, popular elections, rather than the caucuses in 18 provinces envisioned in the US plan.

An aide to the cleric said in Kuwait that if Ayatollah al-Sistani's advice were rejected, a Muslim edict would then be issued to deny legitimacy to any council elected under the American plan.

In light of Ayatollah al-Sistani's demands, the Bush administration is, however, reviewing how it might improve voter participation by Iraqis.

"Obviously we are concerned about working with Iraqis," State Department spokesman Mr Richard Boucher said.

"We are concerned about public opinion. We want to satisfy the needs and demands of the Iraqi people."

The meeting at UN headquarters could be the start of a warming in relations between the US and the UN, strained since the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The US wants regional caucuses, whose members would be at least partially appointed, to choose a new Iraqi parliament, which would then select an interim administration.

The Bush administration says the security situation and incomplete voter records make direct elections impossible by July.