Secret UN plan to take over Iraq Julian Borger in Washington Wednesday March 5, 2003 The Guardian The United Nations has drawn up confidential contingency plans for a postwar role in Iraq, even before a security council vote on whether to back the forcible ousting of Saddam Hussein, UN staff and diplomatic sources said last night. The planning began more than a month ago, in tandem with the bitter security council debate on a US-led campaign to force a regime change in Baghdad, and a panel of experts has produced a preliminary report on postwar reconstruction, according to Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman in the office of the secretary general, Kofi Annan. "The secretary general has appointed a small working group in case there is a conflict, which we still don't believe is inevitable. The group would look at any role of the UN in postwar reconstruction beyond immediate humanitarian relief," Mr Dujarric said. The report was put together by a Pakistani UN official, Rafeeuddin Ahmed, and the whole postwar project is being overseen by Mr Annan's Canadian deputy, Louise Frechette. "Mr Ahmed has put some ideas on paper," Mr Dujarric said but he denied a report in the Times that the UN could be breaching its charter and interfering in a member state's internal affairs by contemplating the aftermath of the removal of the Baghdad government. "We are not assuming anything. There is no assumption of war," he insisted. The US has drawn up its own plans to administer post-Sad dam Iraq with the help of exiles and some of the existing bureaucracy until a new democratic government can be elected. But the Bush administration is wary of being perceived as a colonial power, and is anxious to pass the baton as soon as an acceptable degree of stability is achieved. US diplomats said no position had been taken on whether there should be an interim UN period between a US-run administration and an Iraqi government. Jay Garner, the retired US general who has been given the job of running the civil administration of Iraq after the fall of President Saddam, visited the UN to discuss the plans on Monday with Ms Frechette and the British UN mission. "He made it clear that he did not want his mission to run on for a long time, but there is no way of putting a timetable on something so unpredictable," a US official said. One diplomat described the planning as "sensible" and "inevitable", in view of the clear threat of war, but added that the UN secretariat had had to carry it out "below the surface" because there has been no official decision on military action. A source in the security council denied that a definitive plan had been drawn up, but rather a set of options dependent on "various possible scenarios with the UN asked to take a greater or lesser role". It seemed unlikely that any of the contingencies being pondered would involve a comprehensive UN administration along the lines of missions in Kosovo or East Timor. It was more likely it would follow the model of Afghanistan, where the UN has played a supportive role focused on nation-building and humanitarian operations rather than an administrative one. One diplomat from a security council member state said that one of the candidates to run an Iraq operation was Lakhdar Brahimi, who played a similar role in Afghanistan. "Whenever they talk about finding someone who is internationally respected, experienced and someone who is Muslim, everybody says 'what about Brahimi?'," the diplomat said. The emergence of the contingency plans comes at a tense time for the UN. The US, Britain and Spain have tabled a draft resolution declaring Iraq to be in breach of its international obligations to disarm. Although the document is not explicit, it would universally be seen as a mandate for US-led military action. However, France and Russia have threatened to veto the draft, potentially opening a damaging rift in the security council. Ari Fleischer, the president's spokesman, said that the administration still plannned to press for a vote soon after the latest report on Iraqi compliance by the chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix. The report is due on Friday. Britain delivered a blunt warning to France and Germany last night that they will "reap a whirlwind" if they refuse to sign up to the new Anglo-American resolution. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, claimed that Washington would abandon "multilateral" institutions such as the UN and Nato if Europe refuses to fall into line. "What I say to France and Germany and all my other EU colleagues is 'take care', because just as America helps to define and influence our politics, so what we do in Europe helps to define and influence American politics," Mr Straw told MPs on the Commons foreign affairs select committee. "And we will reap a whirlwind if we push the Americans into a unilateralist position in which they are the centre of this unipolar world." _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? 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