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Annan to send envoy to Baghdad

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is prepared to send his top adviser back to Baghdad to help form an interim government if Iraqi leaders cannot agree on a plan to assume power when the US-led occupation ends in June, UN officials said.

Annan on Thursday sided with the US, saying elections in Iraq before the political transfer of power on June 30 were not feasible. He also said the date for restoring sovereignty that Washington wants "must be respected."

But he did not give any proposals for a caretaker government to take power in June, saying Iraqis should determine its shape before the world body steps in.

"We have absolutely no preferred options," Annan told reporters. "We need to have the Iraqis discuss it. They must take ownership, discuss it amongst themselves, and we will try and work with them to find a consensus."

UN officials said it was likely Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister and senior adviser to Annan, would go to Iraq for another visit and help mediate a formula if the Iraqis and the US-led coalition do not produce one.

The administration of US President George W. Bush , which is trying to re-engage the UN in efforts to stabilize the country, had asked the world body to come up with proposals for Iraq's political future before and after the June 30 transfer of power.

Original US plans for the handover, which involved regional caucuses choosing an assembly that would select a government, were derailed after a leading Iraqi Shiite cleric demanded early direct elections.

US officials have now publicly acknowledged that the caucus system is no longer possible.

"It looked like a caucus system for finding a transitional assembly and a transitional government might have worked, but it does not appear that that caucus system has the support needed for it to work," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday.

Annan, who was to leave for a visit to Japan today, intends to submit a report soon giving a timeframe for future elections in Iraq.

But the proposal considered the most likely for an interim government is to increase the current US-selected Iraqi Governing Council to as many as 125 members, selected from the country's disparate ethnic, religious and political groups. How this body would be selected is not clear yet.

The enlarged council could select a government until democratic elections are held, probably late this year or early in 2005. It could also agree on "technical" rule, such as leaving the current ministers and administrators in office.

The majority Shiites, who have been pressing for early direct elections, will make strong demands for representation.

Minority Sunnis, who watched their privileges disappear when former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was toppled in April, fear being marginalized. The Kurds are pushing for autonomy.

Another issue still on the table is the interim constitution, due to be concluded on Feb. 28. It was supposed to include provisions for a new interim government.

But Annan said the plan for a caretaker government would be "decoupled" from the constitutional arrangements and therefore did not have to be in place by next week.

In Baghdad on Thursday, US administrator Paul Bremer said again the June 30 deadline for handover would stand.
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