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Brahimi heading to Iraq soon to join electoral team - UN spokesperson

Brahimi heading to Iraq soon to join electoral team - UN spokesperson

Special Adviser Brahimi
With a United Nations electoral team already in Iraq surveying the possibility of holding direct elections by the end of January, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi, is expected to head to the country soon, a UN spokesperson said today.

The technical team, headed by Carina Perelli, Chief of the UN's Electoral Assistance Division, is in Iraq to assess what needs to be done in order to hold credible elections by 31 January 2005.

The mission will also identify what mechanisms and electoral modalities will make implementing these tasks feasible by that date, and determine the appropriateness and degree to which the United Nations can assist in the implementation of these electoral tasks.

Earlier this month, Mr. Annan received letters from both Iraqi leaders and officials of the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) asking for UN assistance with the transfer of sovereignty at the end of June as well as help with preparations for elections before the end of January 2005.

Asked about whether security assessments would allow UN staff to return to Iraq, spokesperson Marie Okabe said that before UN teams arrive in the country, security assessments are made. Any large-scale return of UN staff, she added, would depend on further security assessments.