UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is weighing a US and Iraqi request to send a UN team to study if Iraq can have quick, direct elections for a new legislature.
A decision by UN experts would help resolve a growing dispute between the US and a top Shiite cleric over the best way to transfer power before a June 30 deadline.
Annan gave indications he was leaning toward approving it, but stressed that security of UN staff must be provided for -- something the US-led coalition will have to guarantee. Members of the UN Security Council also backed the idea.
"If we get it wrong at this stage, it'll be even more difficult and we may not even get to the next stage," Annan said Monday. "So I think it is extremely important that we do whatever we can to assist."
The UN is essentially being asked to help resolve an argument between US President George W. Bush's administration and Iraq's most prominent Shiite leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, who has demanded direct elections to choose a provisional government by June 30. The coalition wants to keep to a handover plan dating from Nov. 15, which calls for caucuses to choose a provisional assembly.
Agreeing to al-Sistani's demand would mean holding the direct elections by May, and Annan has said repeatedly it doesn't appear that would give enough time to prepare for a fair vote.
Underscoring that urgency, tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims marched in Baghdad on Monday to demand early elections.
Annan had initially called Monday's meeting with the Iraqi Governing Council and the US-led Coalition Authority to help clarify a possible new UN role in the future of Iraq. Diplomats said Monday's meeting went a long way toward addressing that.
The crucial issue for Annan is now whether UN staff will be safe operating in Iraq. He ordered all international staff to leave Iraq in late October following two bombings at UN headquarters -- including one on Aug. 19 that killed top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others.
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