UN Iraq Envoy Rebuffs Governing Council Criticism

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.N. envoy charged with helping form an interim Iraqi government on Saturday rebuffed criticism from members of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council who accused him of not consulting them on his plans.
Lakhdar Brahimi told them the ideas he had submitted to the U.N. Security Council on the creation of the new transitional body were not drawn up by him or the United Nations.

The U.S.-led authorities are to transfer sovereignty to the interim government on June 30. It will be responsible for leading Iraq to elections set for next January.

"What we have done is explain the ideas that we have submitted to the Security Council, underlining the fact that these were not a plan from the United Nations or me personally but our reading of what we heard from a very, very large number of Iraqis," Brahimi said.

Brahimi, who says his role is only to advise, has proposed changes to previous plans drawn up by Washington and the Council stressing competence, rather than party affiliations.

"I have explained to the Governing Council that I have never used the word technocrats," Brahimi told reporters.

A government made up of what Brahimi has called competent and honest people could omit some Council members, many of whose prospects in future elections are far from encouraging.

Ahmad Chalabi, a returned exile whose Pentagon ties once suggested he might play a leading role in a future government, has figured prominently in criticism of Brahimi and the U.N. role in the process of picking the transitional government.

A spokesman for Brahimi said he had addressed the concerns of Iraqis who have opposed his and the U.N.'s role in the process.

"I think that much of this criticism is unfounded, that they are saying that Mr. Brahimi is coming with a pre-cooked package in his briefcase, a list of names that will take over Iraq when the time comes," Ahmad Fawzi told Reuters.

"I believe he addressed many of their concerns, legitimate concerns some of them, due to misinterpretation or misreporting."

Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister, is respected in the Arab Middle East, but has won few friends in Iraq, where there is resentment of the United Nations over a crippling economic embargo and allegations its officials took bribes from Saddam Hussein.

Washington says the transitional government will have limited sovereignty and that it will retain a large troop presence in Iraq.