UN mulling form of support for Iraq, Secretary-General says

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today he has received a letter from Iraq's Governing Council suggesting new political arrangements and asking for UN support.

Speaking to journalists in an encounter after the Security Council's monthly luncheon, Mr. Annan said he had indicated to the Security Council "that I'll be submitting a report on UN activities in Iraq and how we are going to proceed between now and the beginning of December."

The Security Council was awaiting a letter, also, because Jalal Talabani, the current Chairman of the United States-appointed Governing Council indicated Sunday that one was being sent "and we are waiting to see what is in that document," he said.

A political transition was an area in which the UN has had experience and could offer advice, depending on the circumstances, Mr. Annan said.

In planning, "we are looking at what we can do from outside Iraq, what we can do cross-border and what we can do once the circumstances permit us to deploy fully back in Iraq," he said, adding that the security situation was not yet where he wanted to see it.

He was asked whether requests from Foreign Ministers Joschka Fischer of Germany today and Igor Ivanov of the Russian Federation yesterday that a bigger UN role should be written into a US-drafted resolution would be consonant with security requirements.

"No," he said. "I think many people would want to see a UN role. We, ourselves, would want to help the Iraqi people, but one also has to be prudent."

After sending its letter to the Security Council, the Governing Council was scheduled to send a report to the UN by 15 December, he added.

Asked about appointing a successor for his Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was killed in the 19 August bombing of the UN offices in Baghdad, Mr. Annan said he would name someone to handle operations on the ground fairly shortly and a Special Representative "in the not too distant future."

The UN would probably establish a regional office either in Amman, Jordan, or Larnaca, Cyprus, to focus on UN activities in Iraq, he said.