Annan's envoy holds fourth day of meetings with Iraqi political leaders

United Nations envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello held his fourth day of consultations with Iraqi political leaders on Wednesday and again stressed that he would do everything in his power to assist the Iraqi people “at this critical juncture in their history.”

Mr. Vieira de Mello, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative, and Ibrahim Jaafari, leader of the Da'wa party, discussed issues related to the current transition and explored how to advance the political process.

Mr. Jaafari told Mr. Vieira de Mello that the Iraqis needed the UN to assist them in achieving their legitimate rights and they agreed to continue their consultations.

Yesterday, the UN envoy met with Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, senior member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI). On Monday he saw Hamid Al-Bayati, a member of SCIRI's Central Committee, and on Sunday Adnan Pachachi, a former Foreign Minister.

In other meetings today, Mr. Vieira de Mello met with resident diplomats of France and Italy and received a delegation from Amnesty International.

On the humanitarian front, a new shipment of emergency reproductive health supplies provided by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has arrived in Baghdad to help meet the urgent needs of Iraqi women, including obstetric care material, clean delivery equipment, contraceptives, syringes and essential drugs.

This was UNFPA's second such shipment of supplies since the end of the armed conflict in April, after a first delivery almost a month ago to the northern city of Mosul.

The agency is currently conducting an emergency assessment of 18 hospitals and 30 primary health care centres providing reproductive health and family planning services around Baghdad.