U.N. cool to new draft

Some countries say language is needed to ensure Iraq's sovereignty.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- A revised U.N. Security Council resolution gives Iraq's interim leaders control of the army and police, but council diplomats said the document still doesn't properly spell out the new government's sovereignty.
The United States and Britain circulated a revised blueprint Tuesday that would end their occupation and hand over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government June 30. It places command of the Iraqi army and police under the new government, and would end the mandate for a multinational force by January 2006 -- two major changes.
Those changes addressed major concerns about the initial draft from several Security Council members, among them France, Germany, Russia and Chile.
MNF control
But some of the 15-member council were still not satisfied. Algeria said a final resolution must clearly give the Iraqis final say over the multinational force, or MNF.
"We still need to have language that would say that the Iraqi government's point of view will prevail over the MNF in case of major military operations," Algeria's U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Baali said.
U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham insisted this didn't belong in the resolution. "That's really an issue that we need to work out with the Iraqis," he said.
France, Germany, Russia and Chile also raised questions during closed-door Security Council discussions, council diplomats said.
"We are not satisfied with the new version," a French diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We need clarification."
China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said the restoration of "full sovereignty has not been fully reflected" in the text. That view was echoed by French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, according to the French diplomat.
Pressure in New York
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari was heading to New York to press for full sovereignty, and he was expected to meet the council as early as Thursday.
Many Security Council members want to hear from several more of Iraq's new interim leaders as well as U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. Some also want to hear Iraqi reaction to the country's new interim government, which was named Tuesday.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Brahimi would remain in Baghdad to work on preparations for a national assembly that will probably gather next month. It will bring Iraqi groups together for the first time to choose a consultative council to advise the interim government.
Transition timetable
The original draft resolution endorsed the timetable for Iraq's transition to democratic government. Under the timetable, elections will be held by Jan. 31, 2005, for a transitional national assembly, a constitution will be drafted and put to a vote during the year, and a new Iraqi government will be elected by Dec. 31, 2005.
The original draft said the mandate for the multinational force in Iraq would be reviewed after a year -- or even earlier if the transitional government that takes power after January elections requests it.
That remains in the revised draft, but new language puts an expiration date on the mandate for the multinational force -- the installation of an elected government, which isn't expected until December 2005 or January 2006. It also says the council would terminate the mandate if the transitional government wants.
The new draft notes for the first time "that the presence of the multinational force in Iraq is at the request of the incoming interim government." It doesn't specifically give the new leaders the right to ask the force to leave, though U.S. and British leaders have said they will go if asked.
Instead, it anticipates that the incoming government will make a formal request "to retain the presence of the multinational force."
'Pivotal partner'
The new interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, said Tuesday the multinational force will be asked to stay on and promised that Iraq's security forces will be a "pivotal partner" with U.S. and other coalition troops in the fight to restore security to Iraq.
The new draft states clearly for the first time that the Iraqi forces "will operate under the authority of the interim government of Iraq and its successors," and that the Iraqi police will be under control of the Ministry of Interior.
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