Level of U.N. help with election hinges on security

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United Nations is hopeful elections in Iraq can be held on schedule in January 2005 despite escalating violence -- but the level of U.N. electoral assistance will depend on security, the top U.N. envoy to Iraq says.
Iraq's new deputy U.N. ambassador, Feisal Amin al-Istrabadi, warned Tuesday that terrorists are determined to disrupt the vote and he urged the world's nations to send troops to protect an expanded U.N. staff which he called essential for holding the country's first free elections.
But Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, the U.N. special representative in Iraq, said the security situation will be the overriding factor in determining how many U.N. international staffers can return to Iraq. Currently, there is a ceiling of 35 U.N. staff in the country, which al-Istrabadi called inadequate.
"It's always desirable to have more people on the ground than circumstances permit, but given the specific security circumstances in Iraq, we have to be careful -- mindful of the safety of the people we deploy there including the electoral people," Qazi said.
"We are all looking forward, despite the constraints under which we operate, to ... fair elections, credible elections, inclusive elections, being held by the due date," the U.N. envoy said.
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