Geneva, Sept 14: The five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council have failed to resolve their differences on Iraq's future, reiterating their commitment to restore Iraqi sovereignty without giving specifics on a timetable for self-rule or the United Nations' future role in the country. "We all share the aspiration to transfer power to the Iraqi people as soon as possible," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told a press conference yesterday after emergency talks with the foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

The UN chief did not however indicate any suggested schedule for a transfer of power from the provisional authority set up by the US-led coalition after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in April.

The ministers and Annan met for nearly four hours to discuss a US-proposed Security Council resolution on Iraq, which seeks to create a UN-mandated multinational force under US command and share out the financial burden of Iraq's reconstruction.

After sidelining the United Nations when it invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, Washington is now looking for support from the world body as it faces daily attacks on US troops and mounting instability in the oil-rich state.

But the council is split -- the United States and Britain on one side, and China, France and Russia on the other -- on how to proceed with the transition to Iraqi self-rule and on the role the UN should play in the process.

Voicing the vision of the Iraqi governing council, council member Adnan Pachachi called for Iraqis to be given a greater role in building their future.
Bureau Report