UN envoy back in Baghdad after consulting with Egypt on Iraq's future

Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, is back in Baghdad after a weekend visit to Egypt, where he met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa as part of his consultations with Iraq's neighbours on the UN role there.

Yesterday, he exchanged views with Mr. Moussa on the Iraqi Governing Council, set up by the United States-run Coalition Provisional Authority and regarded by Mr. Mello as a valid partner for the UN.

On Saturday, Mr. Vieira de Mello discussed with Mr. Maher the importance of ensuring close links between Iraq and its neighbours and ways in which the region can assist the Iraqi people in their quest for the full restoration of their sovereignty and the rebuilding of their country.

On the humanitarian front, in the northern Iraqi town of Erbil yesterday, Benon Sevan, Executive Director of the UN Office of the Iraq Programme, told reporters that, despite the difficulties it had faced, the Oil-for-Food programme has been the largest humanitarian programme in UN history and he was proud of what it had achieved.

Asked about allegations of mismanagement and corruption, he said that after almost 100 audit reports, both internal and external, nobody has ever been able to prove any misappropriation of funds administered by the UN. Mr. Sevan is meeting with the local authorities in northern Iraq, after which he will travel to Baghdad.

Under the programme, to be phased out by 21 November, the sanctions-bound government of Saddam Hussein was allowed to sell oil for food and humanitarian supplies. It served as the sole source of sustenance for 60 per cent of Iraq's estimated 27 million people.