PRESS CONFERENCE BY ADMINISTRATOR, COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY IN IRAQ

PRESS CONFERENCE BY ADMINISTRATOR, COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY IN IRAQ

There had been broad agreement on the importance of the United Nations resuming its role in Iraq and on the ways in which the Iraqi people could regain their full sovereignty, L. Paul Bremer, Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, said this afternoon.

Briefing correspondents on the Coalition’s meeting with the Secretary-General and the Iraq Governing Council, he said the Coalition looked forward to an early decision on the dispatching of a technical team to investigate the feasibility of holding elections.  The meeting had reviewed the security situation as well as the growing economy and the political process.  The Governing Council had also described the work being done to write the country’s basic law, he added.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the United Kingdom’s Special Representative on the Coalition Provisional Authority, expressed satisfaction with the resumed engagement between the United Nations and the Coalition, which ended with the 19 August bombing attack on the Organization’s Baghdad headquarters.

Asked about media speculation that the Coalition was trying to persuade the United Nations to “pull the United States’ chestnuts out of the fire” and make the Iraqi political process more legitimate, Mr. Bremer replied that the intention of the morning discussions was to examine the question of holding elections.

Regarding reported divisions between the United Nations and the Governing Council, and between the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Governing Council, he said there had been unanimous agreement between the Coalition and the Governing Council on the resumed United Nations role.

Mr. Greenstock added that there had also been full agreement on the need for elections.  All that was left was the means to hold them within the given timeframe.

Asked about demonstrations in Baghdad by thousands of people demanding elections, and how a United Nations election team could slow that momentum, Mr. Bremer pointed out that that freedom of assembly was one of the beauties of democracy.  Iraqis were free to demonstrate peacefully, even if their views were opposed to those of the Coalition.

Regarding the Coalition’s readiness to cede authority to the United Nations, and its insistence on concluding security arrangements in agreement with the Governing Council rather than a sovereign government, he said the Coalition Provisional Authority would dissolve as soon as sovereignty was returned to the Iraqi people, so there would be no question of ceding authority to the United Nations.  Security arrangements must be made before the return of sovereignty because Iraqi forces were ill-prepared to maintain security on their own and may wish to seek help from concerned countries, including members of the coalition.  There was a need to make security arrangements purely for purposes of military planning, he concluded.

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