IRAQ: The UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, said last night that agreement was emerging on direct elections in Iraq but he cautioned about the timing of any poll.
UN spokesman Mr Fred Eckhard said Mr Annan "understands there is a consensus emerging" for direct elections during the talks his envoy Mr Lakhdar Brahimi was having with a spectrum of Iraqi leaders.
But he said there was wide agreement any elections "must be carefully prepared", thereby leaving open whether they should be held before or after June 30th, the date the United States wants to relinquish power to Iraqis.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Brahimi held talks in the holy city of Najaf with the Shia religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has called for direct elections before US occupiers hand back sovereignty to Iraqis.
"Sistani is insistent on holding the elections and we are with him on this 100 percent because elections are the best means to enable any people to set up a state that serves their interest," Mr Brahimi told reporters after two hours of talks with the ayatollah.
There was no immediate comment from Ayatollah Sistani's office. The UN team led by Mr Brahimi is in Iraq to assess the feasibility of holding early direct elections that the ayatollah has been urging in opposition to a US plan to choose a government by regional caucuses before handing over power by June 30th.
"We are in agreement with the Sayyid that these elections should be prepared well and should take place in the best possible conditions so that it would bring the results which the Sayyid wants and the people of Iraq and the UN," said Mr Brahimi, who is due to leave Iraq today. The rest of the UN team has started touring provinces and Mr Annan is expected to give his opinion on the elections on February 21st. Recent suicide bombs and attacks on US troops and those who work with them could cast doubt on the practicality of early elections.
Meanwhile, Ayatollah Sistani has been holding meetings with members of Iraq's Governing Council on the country's political future after 24 years of dictatorship under toppled leader Saddam Hussein.
"Every one wants elections if we can have real elections in the time limits we have," said Mr Adnan al-Pachachi, a secular Sunni member of the council and head of the Iraqi Democratic Movement. "We all agree that the best way to choose the members of the interim assembly would be through elections and elections will happen if it's not today then after six months."