Blair urges Bush to give UN a role in Iraq

12.00pm

BELFAST - Tony Blair has urged President George Bush to allow the United Nations to appoint an interim Iraqi-run authority once the war against Saddam Hussein is over.

The Prime Minister recommended the move during talks with the US President at the start of his two-day visit to Belfast to discuss Iraq, the Middle East and Northern Ireland.

After Air Force One brought him into Belfast International Airport amid tight security, Mr Bush was taken by helicopter to Hillsborough Castle for his third summit with Mr Blair in less than a month.

With the Iraqi regime appearing to collapse, the two leaders discussed strategy for the final stages of the conflict but much of their talks centred on a post-Saddam administration.

Following the collapse of diplomacy in the run-up to the war, the Pentagon is keen to keep the UN's role to a minimum and is insisting on a dominant role for a US military team headed by retired US Army Lieutenant General Jay Garner.

However, Mr Blair last night proposed a compromise plan which would allow a UN-backed Iraqi Interim Authority (IIA) to run alongside the American administration after two months.

According to senior Government sources, the IIA would then take over fully from the US six months after the end of the war.

It would run the country until proper elections could be arranged.

The plan for parallel US and Iraqi administrations is seen in Downing Street as an innovative way of squaring the circle of American concerns over security with British insistence on a key UN role.

Mr Blair and Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, have already called for a UN-convened conference of Iraqi groups before the creation of the interim authority.

The two leaders also discussed the detailed publication of the long-awaited 'road map' for the Middle East which will create a Palestinian state by 2005.

Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister, who will join Mr Blair and Mr Bush talks on the Ulster peace process today, insisted that a new Iraqi administration would have "greater legitimacy" if it was clearly under the ambit of the international community, adding that his government wanted to see the UN "at the heart of that".

While some in Washington argue that Iraq's potentially massive oil wealth should be tapped for its reconstruction, London argues that funds from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and European Union will be required urgently and UN mandate is the only way to secure that.

Mr Blair's official spokesman yesterday that the UN should have "a leading role".

Hillsborough Castle was cordoned off for the duration of the two-day summit to keep away thousands of anti-war protestors at a rally organised by the Stop the War coalition.

The American President, Mr Blair and Mr Ahern will today urge local parties to finalise a deal which has been the subject of intricate negotiation for months.

On Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Mr Ahern will return to Northern Ireland with Mr Blair.

They are due to publish a blueprint intended to produce a major IRA response in terms of weaponry.

The success of these moves, possibly over the next few weeks, would be highly welcome to Mr Blair in particular in demonstrating to his critics a continuing commitment to tackling conflicts by negotiation.

The sense is also that a Northern Ireland breakthrough, should it materialise, could be on a major scale, some describing it as perhaps the most significant success since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement five years ago.

President Bush was accompanied by US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Richard Haass, his special envoy on Northern Ireland.

Mr Blair was accompanied by Mr Straw and Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy.

- INDEPENDENT



Herald Feature: Iraq war