Security Council members hail Annan's decision to send team to Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Security Council members hail Annan's decision to send team to Iraq

Several members of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday voiced support for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's decision to send a team to Iraq to examine the feasibility of elections before the June 30 transfer of sovereignty.

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Several members of the United Nations Security Council on Jan. 27 voiced support for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's decision to send a team to Iraq to examine the feasibility of elections before the June 30 transfer of sovereignty.

Annan said earlier Tuesday in Paris that the team must have adequate security to carry out its task of soliciting the views ofa broad spectrum of Iraqi society in the search for alternatives that might be developed to move forward to the formation of a provisional government.

"We welcome the decision by the secretary-general to send an electoral mission, subject to security arrangements," said Ambassador Heraldo Munoz of Chile. "We feel this is a very important step to collaborate with the Iraqis in their political process."

At the same time, he emphasized the need for quality. "Elections can be carried out in five months," he said. "The question is whether you can carry out credible and transparent elections -- that will be the challenge for this mission: whether credible, transparent elections that meet all the conditions of an election that will be accepted by all Iraqis and the international community can be carried out in this lapse of time."

US Ambassador John Negroponte also hailed the dispatch of the mission. "It is part of the process on the part of the secretary-general and the United Nations of re-engaging itself in Iraq," he said. "I know this is going to be a step-by-step process but it's definitely a positive development."

"Clearly, the United Nations can play an important role in this unfolding political process in Iraq," he added in response to press questions.

Asked about this development, Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram said, "This is a decision that was taken by the secretary-general [who] has obviously taken time to deliberate upon it and we would wish him and the team all success."

German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger said, "We have welcomed the fact that the secretary-general saw fit, also regarding his responsibility for the security of his people, to send this mission to talk to the people in Iraq and listen to what they want."

Source: Xinhua

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