Post-transition control of Iraqi security unclear

1.00pm

WASHINGTON - Who controls Iraqi security forces after the June 30 transition from US occupation is an "open question" and could provoke heated debate in advance of the handover, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Wednesday.

Solana, in Washington for talks with top US officials, said it will be up to a new Iraqi transition government -- once named by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi -- to make recommendations on security and other key issues as part of a new UN Security Council resolution authorising post-transition arrangements.

Pentagon officials on Tuesday told Congress that Iraqi army and civil defence corps will operate under the US military command, when the interim Iraqi government takes over responsibility for the state's day-to-day affairs on July 1.

But Solana, at a meeting with reporters, said control of Iraqi security forces "is still an open question".

"This will be one of the big battles" as the UN Security Council considers a proposed new resolution on Iraq and will depend heavily on preferences of the new Iraqi government, he said.

For this reason, it is essential that the new government be named before the security council acts on the resolution, he said.

Britain and the United States hope to present a resolution to the council in mid-May, despite rising violence in Iraq.

Officials from both countries want the 15-nation UN council to give its blessing to a new Iraqi interim government, a multinational force and a UN role in the country after the hand over of power.

A senior US Army general who just returned from a long stint in Iraq has been sent back to improve training and equipping of Iraqi security forces after some either refused to fight or collapsed under attack by insurgents.

Another outstanding issue is power sharing arrangements within the new government, but Solana said proposals are in the works that could satisfy a major objection of leading Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani.

Solana said Sistani was concerned that a proposed veto provision could be used by Kurdish and Sunni groups to block Shi'ites who are Iraq's majority population and were severely repressed by ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

But Brahimi is "working to solve this" by specifying the provision could only be used by Kurds to defend their interests in the existing autonomous Kurdish regions, Solana said.

According to Brahimi's blueprint for Iraq's future, a prime minister, president, two vice-presidents and cabinet ministers, divided among Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds, would make up the new caretaker government.

This would supplant the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.

Brahimi's plan, due to be formally presented to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, also calls for a 1000-member consultative assembly and a 100-member "executive committee" that would serve until elections could be held next January.

Solana said it would be a "catastrophe" if the political process fails and he is unaware of any fall-back plan.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq