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Iraqi leaders hold talks with UN team over sovereignty
Baghdad, Mar 29: Iraqi leaders held talks with UN advisors on Monday on how to regain sovereignty from the US-led coalition, after persistent violence killed two foreigners and a minister escaped an assassination bid.
Baghdad, Mar 29: Iraqi leaders held talks with UN advisors on Monday on how to regain sovereignty from the US-led coalition, after persistent violence killed two foreigners and a minister escaped an assassination bid.
"Official meetings with the United Nations team of experts have started this morning at the headquarters of Iraq's interim governing council," a council spokesman who did not wish to be identified said.
"About seven or eight members of the governing council are participating in the meeting," he said.
The UN team is made up technical experts due to give advice on holding elections, conducting a census and assembling a caretaker government set to rule when sovereignty returns to Iraqis on June 30.
The team, which started its visit on Friday amid political wrangling over the country's interim constitution, will be joined later this week by a UN political delegation headed by special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
Shiite spiritual leader grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has been the most vocal critic of the interim constitution, threatening to boycott talks with the advisors unless the United Nations declares it non-binding.
The political machinations come amid an upsurge of violence which yesterday killed a British security guard and his Canadian colleague in the northern city of Mosul, and left scores of US soldiers and Iraqis wounded. Bureau Report
"Official meetings with the United Nations team of experts have started this morning at the headquarters of Iraq's interim governing council," a council spokesman who did not wish to be identified said.
"About seven or eight members of the governing council are participating in the meeting," he said.
The UN team is made up technical experts due to give advice on holding elections, conducting a census and assembling a caretaker government set to rule when sovereignty returns to Iraqis on June 30.
The team, which started its visit on Friday amid political wrangling over the country's interim constitution, will be joined later this week by a UN political delegation headed by special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
Shiite spiritual leader grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has been the most vocal critic of the interim constitution, threatening to boycott talks with the advisors unless the United Nations declares it non-binding.
The political machinations come amid an upsurge of violence which yesterday killed a British security guard and his Canadian colleague in the northern city of Mosul, and left scores of US soldiers and Iraqis wounded. Bureau Report