A U.N. envoy proposed on Wednesday that Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council be dissolved when the United States hands over power on June 30 and replaced with a caretaker government of technocrats who would rule until elections are held.
With less than 70 days before the handover of power, the initiative by Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister, amounts to a last-ditch effort to cobble together an interim government after repeated Iraqi objections to U.S.-crafted plans, including one to hold regional caucuses. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who will review Brahimi's proposal before it is formally released this month, dispatched the veteran diplomat to Iraq at the behest of the Bush administration to resolve disagreements among Iraqi leaders over the political transition.
Brahimi said at a news conference that the interim government should have a cabinet of ministers led by a prime minister, as well as a president who would serve as the head of state. Although some Iraqi politicians and officials of the U.S. government have favored handing power to the 25-member Governing Council or an expanded version of that body, Brahimi ruled out that approach because of questions about the council's lack of popular support.
Brahimi wants the ministers, the president and two vice presidents to be chosen by the United Nations, in consultation with the U.S. occupation authority, the Governing Council and other institutions, his spokesman, Ahmed Fawzi, said in an interview. Although that approach has been endorsed by Iraq's U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer, and other administration officials, it could prove controversial among Iraqis, including some Governing Council members who want a more active role in selecting their interim government.
Brahimi and Bremer regard the selection of the government by the United Nations as a workable compromise that attempts to address Iraqi concerns about earlier transition plans, which would have allowed more American control, people involved in the process said. But despite a pledge to engage in broad consultations with Iraqis, Brahimi's proposal would effectively allow people here less participation in the choice of the interim government than they would have had under an American initiative to hold caucuses in each of Iraq's 18 provinces -- a plan that was rejected by the country's top Shiite Muslim cleric for being insufficiently representative.
It is not known how the cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, feels about Brahimi's proposal. The U.N. envoy was unable to travel to the holy city of Najaf, where Sistani lives, because of a standoff there between U.S. troops and militiamen loyal to a rival cleric, Moqtada Sadr. Brahimi spoke to Sistani's son over the telephone, and U.S. officials have asked interlocutors to explain the proposal to Sistani directly.
A senior U.N. official said Brahimi was told by "almost everyone he talked to" that the United Nations should assume the lead role in shaping the interim government. "People told him they don't trust the people sitting on the [Governing] Council, that the [occupation authority] has also acted in ways that made it lose credibility with some segments of society," the senior official said.
'International legitimacy'
"They said they would rather have the United Nations act as an arbiter in this whole process. They see us as bringing international legitimacy to the process."
The United Nations, Fawzi said, "has no agenda other than the interests of Iraqis."
The senior U.N. official said Brahimi was optimistic that Sistani would accept his proposal given the grand ayatollah's previously stated desire to have the United Nations involved in the transition.
But other Shiite leaders and politicians could pose a greater challenge. A handful of Shiite members of the Governing Council objected to the involvement of Brahimi, a Sunni Muslim, and delayed inviting him back to Iraq. The logjam was broken after Sistani sent a message to Annan urging him to dispatch Brahimi.
Among the Shiite politicians who opposed the return of Brahimi -- who angered some Shiites by announcing in February that Iraq would not be able to hold elections before June 30 -- was Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress and a member of the Governing Council. Chalabi's spokesman, Entifadh Qanbar, said the nomination or selection of an interim government by the United Nations would not be acceptable to many Iraqis.
'Led by Iraqis'
"Our position is that this process has to be led by Iraqis and not by the U.N.," Qanbar said. "The U.N. should have the role of consultation -- no more than that."
Another Governing Council member, Mahmoud Othman, said an interim government selected by the United Nations "will not be successful."
Bremer, however, issued a statement on Wednesday night welcoming Brahimi's recommendation. "Mr. Brahimi's recommendation follows broad consultations with hundreds of Iraqis from across the country," the statement said. "We are grateful to Secretary General Annan, Mr. Brahimi and all the U.N. personnel here for their highly constructive contribution."
Under Brahimi's plan, the interim government would be a caretaker administration with limited powers. Its primary role would be to organize elections, which must be held by Jan. 31, 2005, as stipulated by an interim constitution approved last month. Such restrictions could appeal to Sistani, who wants the interim administration's lawmaking powers to be limited.
"I am absolutely confident that most Iraqi people want a simple formula for this interim period of just six or seven months," Brahimi said. He said the ministers, the president and the vice presidents must be "competent, honest and independent people."
Technocrats v. politicians
Brahimi favors choosing ministers who are technocrats, not representatives of political groups, Fawzi said. Because Shiites comprise about 60 percent of Iraq's population, the president likely will be a Shiite, people familiar with the process said. One of the vice presidents likely will be a Sunni Arab while the other almost certainly will be an ethnic Kurd, they said.
Brahimi also said he favored holding a large national conference in July, similar to an Afghan loya jirga, to elect a "consultative assembly" to serve alongside the interim government.
The conference, he said, should "serve the all-important aim of promoting national dialogue, consensus building and national reconciliation in Iraq."
Othman, the Governing Council member, said the national conference should be convened before the June 30 handover and used to select the ministers, the president and the vice presidents. "What's the point of having it after?" he said. "The people want to have a say. They want to be consulted. They want to participate. If not, they won't be satisfied."
But Brahimi argued that there would not be enough time to organize a conference to be held before June 30. He also worries that asking such a group to select an interim government would lead to political and ethnic rivalries overshadowing the meeting, Fawzi said.
"If that happens, you won't get national dialogue and reconciliation," Fawzi said.
Brahimi said he wants Iraq to hold elections before January 2005, but he noted that the security situation "has to improve significantly for these elections to take place in an acceptably environment."
He also denounced tactics used by the U.S. Marines to deal with Sunni insurgents in Fallujah, a strife-torn city west of Baghdad. Over the past week, Marines have surrounded the city and only permitted women and children to leave.
"Collective punishments are not acceptable -- cannot be acceptable, and to cordon off and besiege a city is not acceptable," he said.
The use of force in Fallujah, he said, "especially of excessive use of force, makes matters worse."