As-Saliyah, Apr 14: The United Nations will not take the leading role in the series of meetings in coming weeks aimed at setting up an interim authority for Iraq, top US officials said here today. "We do think there will be a UN role in there, but they won't be the ruling partner," said the officials on condition of anonymity, briefing media at US central command here. The remarks came a day before the first meeting of Iraqi opposition groups since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad. The US officials said the gathering in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah was "not a meeting to decide the interim authority" but to talk about when and where such a meeting would take place.


They said they hoped to "set up an interim authority in weeks." Bureau Report