British Prime Minster Tony Blair said Thursday that the UN should play a key role in mediating Iraq's transition to sovereignty and curtailing the violence that has hindered the US-led occupation.
"The circumstances will require us at some point in the near future to have a new UN Security Council resolution that will allow us to point [the] way toward political transition in Iraq," said Blair, who was to meet US President George W. Bush yesterday to discuss the Iraq crisis.
Blair made the comments during a joint news conference with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the residence of the British ambassador to the UN, Emyr Jones Parry.
Annan said he and Blair discussed the recommendations by his special adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi, for a caretaker government to take power from the US-led coalition on June 30 and lead Iraq until elections in January.
"It has not been easy," Annan said, "but we are trying to do whatever we can to help."
Annan said Brahimi has been trying "to encourage the Iraqis to come to some consensus on how to form a transitional government, and I think Mr. Brahimi's effort is to help them move in that direction."
Brahimi left Iraq on Thursday and is expected to return to New York in late April to brief Annan and the UN Security Council before returning to Iraq to finalize his recommendations on a transitional government.
He went to Iraq at the request of the coalition and the 25-member US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council to try to come up with a plan acceptable to a wide range of Iraqis. In recent days, Iraq has seen the heaviest fighting since Baghdad fell to US troops a year ago, with coalition forces fighting Sunni and Shiite Muslim militants.
The violence "is obviously a difficult issue, particularly with security at the moment," Blair said.
"But our determination to get there remains undimmed," he said.
"We have to stand firm," he said.
Blair is one of the staunchest supporters of US foreign policy in Iraq, the Middle East and elsewhere, despite criticism at home. He and Bush last met in November, when Bush traveled to Britain.
Britain has about 8,000 troops in Iraq, one of several allies backing up the US force of more than 135,000.
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