UN has hidden plan to help post-war Iraq

NEW YORK - A task force has drawn up a secret plan for a post-war Iraq in which the United Nations would help to steer the country of 26 million towards democracy via a UN assistance mission, sources at the world body said.

Officials described the plan as "a first attempt to start talking" about a possible UN role in the rebuilding of Iraq after a United States-led war and said any plan would require UN Security Council approval before it could be put into place.

The sources said that under the planning document the UN would step into the picture a few months after the end of the fighting in Iraq, taking over from an interim administration run by the US military.

While UN and US officials are working separately on plans for rebuilding post-war Iraq, they are generally aware of each other's ideas and trying to make them mesh, the sources said.

US officials have made it clear they would want a US military administration in Iraq to last only a few months after the fighting ended.

Last night Iraqi television showed a group of men who said they were Arab and Muslim "suicide attackers" ready to fight if the US invades Iraq. It did not say how large the group was or give a breakdown of their nationalities.

In other developments, the US said it was gaining support in the Security Council for a resolution against Iraq and Turkey gave Washington hope it could be allowed to open a northern front there for any invasion.

Despite US confidence that it would get enough votes for a resolution authorising war, positions hardened among the main protagonists as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan pleaded for a compromise.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said: "I am increasingly optimistic that if it comes to a vote, we will be able to make a case that will persuade most of the members of the Security Council to vote for the resolution."

While the US is given a good chance to get the minimum nine votes needed for adoption in the 15-member council, diplomats believe that point has not been reached. There is also a strong chance France and Russia would use their veto power to kill the measure.

In London, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said flatly that Moscow would not abstain on the resolution and warned it could use its veto power.

"They haven't done enough horse trading yet to get everyone on board," said Nancy Soderberg, a former senior official at the US mission to the UN.

US and British officials want to push for a vote next week.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein defied US President George W. Bush's war threats - branding him "despot of the century" - and carried on destroying banned missiles to demonstrate co-operation with UN disarmament demands. Iraq has destroyed 19 al-Samoud 2 missiles.

Turkey's Government said it was considering a second try at winning parliamentary approval for a US troop deployment.

UN sources, meanwhile, compared their post-war plan to the UN model for rebuilding post-war Afghanistan, in which a UN assistance mission helped to set up an interim Government of Afghans with an eye to their drawing up a constitution and holding elections.

The UN mission in Afghanistan also helped to co-ordinate reconstruction and humanitarian aid programmes while raising money from the international community to pay for the effort.

Rather than advocate creation of a civilian administration run by UN employees, the task force expressed a preference for a UN mission that would stress the role of the Iraqi people in determining their own future, the officials said.

The task force that prepared the plan is headed by Rafeeuddin Ahmed, a Pakistani national and former associate administrator of the UN Development Programme.

The six-member group turned over an extremely limited number of copies of the 60-page document to Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette last weekend. Frechette heads the UN postwar planning effort for Iraq.

The existence of the report was first disclosed by the Times of London.

If the US went to war without a UN Security Council resolution, the council would have to adopt a resolution authorising an assistance mission before one could be sent in.

UN officials warned US planners for the "morning after" in Iraq that the UN role in rebuilding the country could be limited if Washington went to war without a Security Council mandate.

The message came during a "get acquainted" visit to UN headquarters by Jay Garner, the retired lieutenant-general in line to be Iraq's interim administrator after a war.

The UN officials, meeting in Frechette's office, warned Garner of the importance of "a clear basis and a clear mandate for UN action".

Garner said the US would want to turn over control quickly of a postwar Iraq to a civilian administration. Washington understood the value of international involvement in planning and decision-making.

Mark Malloch Brown, head of the UN Development Programme, has estimated that rebuilding Iraq could cost up to US$30 billion ($54.2 billion) over three years and eventually soar to US$100 billion ($180.6 billion).

He estimated the cost of rebuilding Afghanistan at US$15 billion to US$18 billion over 10 years.

- REUTERS