U.N. Seeks Better Security for Iraq Return

[La_Serpiente]

U.N. Seeks Better Security for Iraq Return

TOKYO (AP) - The United Nations will not risk a repeat of last year's attack on its offices in Iraq by establishing a full presence in the country unless security there is improved, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday.

In comments before the Japanese Parliament and to reporters, Annan said the U.N. was ready to assist Iraqi authorities set up an interim government, arrange elections and draft a constitution.

But the U.N. presence will remain light until the country becomes safer for his staff, said Annan, who pulled all non-Iraqi U.N. workers out of the country last year after devastating suicide bombings at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.

"Security must be improved. Otherwise I risk repeating the experience of 19 August," Annan told the Japan Press Club, referring to the date when a truck bomb against the U.N. in Baghdad killed 22, including top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.


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U.N. Seeks Better Security for Iraq Return

The Question is, What the hell is going to happen come June? There is no effective system in place to replace the Iraqi Governing Council, there is no constitution, and the elections may not start until December. Will it be complete anarchy? Will there be a government in absentia? Is the Iraqi Governing Council truly represenative of the needs of the Iraqi people?