IRAQ - The UN Role.

The role of the UN in all this will be very limited. US officials have declared that the UN will be given, at best, a subordinate part in the political reconstruction of Iraq. It is envisaged that the organisation will would have a "role" but it would not be a "managing partner". Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, considered by many to be the architect of the American imperium, said on April 6 the US would need more than six months to cede control of post-war Iraq to a local authority and he did not foresee a pivotal role there for the UN, noting: "The reconstruction of Iraq, I think, is going to be one of the most important projects for the international community in many years". The six-month time frame no longer seems realistic in terms of actually "ceding control" although an authority is already in place.

For its part, the UN has appointed a special representative for the country, Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira De Mello, who has stated that he would seek to extend the envisaged role but in a quiet, incremental way. It remains to be seen whether this would be achievable, especially if the political situation on the ground remains unstable as a result of the inability of Iraqis to reconcile their ethnic and sectarian differences.

As things stand, there is no sign that the Shiites of the south, the Kurds of the north, the Sunnis in the centre, and the smaller groups like the Turkomans, Christians an others scattered over Iraq would be able to forge consensus on the shape of the future governing authority. On May 29, De Mello said America had shown a "lack of clarity as to how to move the political process forward, how to restore law and order". He added that while the UN resolution left his powers vague, there was now an opportunity to come up with a better definition of the organisation's role of the UN in Iraq.