US seeks greater Iraq role from UN and allies

The US is attempting to broker greater military support from the UN and coalition allies in order to relieve the burden on its troops in Iraq.

The US has said that securing and rebuilding Iraq "is not an American-only mission by any stretch of the imagination", and during a speech to the UN in New York yesterday, Secretary of State Colin Powell urged more countries to support coalition efforts in the region.

However, there is no prospect of the UN sending in peacekeeping troops as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday that if the UN were to expand its mandate in Iraq, maintaining security would not be part of it.

“We have focussed on the economic and political and reconstruction, and on the question of the security, we have no intention of recommending UN Blue Helmets,” he said.

Overseeing security arrangements was the province of a multinational force, “with the UN focussing on the economic, political and social areas where we do our best work, including the [humanitarian]”, he added.

In a closed-door briefing with the Security Council yesterday, Mr Annan stressed that security was "ultimately the responsibility of the United States-run Coalition Provisional Authority".

Given that the UN has stated that its role should not include deploying peacekeeping troops, this leaves the option of a multi-national force being sent in to replace tired US troops.

However, France has said that it would only consider sending its soldiers to the region if the US were to rotate overall military command.

France's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Michel Duclos, is reported as saying: "Sharing the burden and the responsibilities in a world of equal and sovereign nations means also sharing information and authority."

Germany and Russia are known to hold a similar position to the French.

Elsewhere, the American general in charge of coalition forces in the region, John Abizaid, yesterday said that Iraqi police and military forces need to be more active in their own security.

"I think it's clear that we've got to do a lot more to bring an Iraqi face to the security establishments throughout Iraq very quickly," Mr Abizaid said.

There are more than 50,000 Iraqis "under arms that are working in coordination with the coalition" - including 35,000 in the police forces, 2,300 in a civil-defense corps, and 17,000 security guards hired to defend infrastructure.

"So it's not the lone American rifleman out there defending Iraq. We're working in conjunction with Iraqis to make the place a better place to live," the general said.

(gmcg)