The U.N. special envoy to Iraq said yesterday that despite increasing violence, leaders of an interim Iraqi government could be named at least a month before the June 30 transfer of power by the U.S.-led coalition.
“Though it will certainly not be easy, we do believe that it shall be possible to identify by the end of May a group of people respected and acceptable to Iraqis across the country, to form this caretaker government,” said envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
Mr. Brahimi told the U.N. Security Council he favored dissolving the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and replacing it with a provisional government of technocrats led by an interim president, two vice presidents and a prime minister.
That would be followed by national elections in early 2005 and the drafting of a new permanent constitution.
Although Mr. Brahimi warned that preparations for the January elections would have “dangerous pitfalls and massive obstacles at every step of the way,” he said the job was “doable.”
The United Nations has taken the lead in establishing the next government in Iraq, mediating agreements between the U.S. authorities and top Iraqi political and religious leaders.
But Mr. Brahimi’s blueprint for transition still leaves several questions unanswered, analysts said.
“The biggest question is whether the details are going to be acceptable to all sides, U.S. and Iraqis,” said Mark Schneider, senior vice president of International Crisis Group.
Many members of the Iraqi Governing Council have expressed reservations over plans for the transfer of power, in which their jobs could be in jeopardy.
John D. Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who was named by President Bush last week to be the ambassador to Iraq after the transfer of power, threw his support behind Mr. Brahimi.
“I have no doubt in my mind he is the right person to carry out this responsibility,” Mr. Negroponte said yesterday at his Senate confirmation hearing.
But Mr. Negroponte was pressed repeatedly by skeptical lawmakers over how much authority the interim Iraqi government and the United Nations would have.
“A vital U.N. role does not come at the expense of U.S. influence or interests,” Mr. Negroponte told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He described the proposed new authority as a “caretaker government,” which would be expected to defer to U.S. military authorities in dealing with insurgency violence and other security threats.
Mr. Negroponte said the transitional government would exercise “a lot more sovereignty than [Iraqis] have now,” and the technocratic team Mr. Brahimi is expected to appoint would have immediate oversight of such functions as foreign affairs, tax collection and the management of about 25 government ministries.
Iraq “is going to be a work in progress, and it’s going to be evolutionary,” he said.
The Negroponte nomination has been on a fast track, and lawmakers of both parties said yesterday they expected the nomination to be approved quickly and easily.
The Iraqi Governing Council yesterday said it would adopt U.N. recommendations on the formation of an independent election commission to oversee the coming national elections.
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