Annan says he’ll move quickly on Iraq envoy once Security Council acts

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today he would move “very quickly” to appoint a Special Representative for Iraq as soon as the Security Council passes a resolution to that effect.

Asked on arrival at UN Headquarters in New York how quickly he would move to appoint the Special Representative, Mr. Annan told reporters: “Well, once a resolution is passed I will move very quickly to appoint a Special Representative who would take up his job, his work in Iraq, as soon as is practicable. I think the resolution, which is still under discussion and hasn't been passed yet, has seen many changes and I don't know what is going to happen today.”

The appointment of a Special Representative is one of the clauses of a revised draft resolution co-sponsored by the United States, United Kingdom and Spain. The text envisages setting in motion interim arrangements for Iraq by lifting sanctions, restoring economic activity by resuming oil sales, and setting up a government infrastructure under an Authority run by the United States and its coalition partners.

Several Security Council members have called for strengthening the UN role in post-war Iraq, and the new draft has some enhancements over the previous version, which called for Mr. Annan to appoint a special coordinator. A special representative has higher authority.

The draft also includes among the special representative’s duties “working intensively with the Authority, the people of Iraq and others concerned to advance efforts to restore and establish national and local institutions for representative governance, including by collaborating to facilitate a process leading to an internationally recognized, representative government of Iraq.”

The previous version of this clause left out the word “intensively” and the reference to the process of establishing a representative government of Iraq.

The governments of the Council’s 15 members are considering the new draft and consultations among their representatives to the UN in New York were held this afternoon.