Some Iraqis want the UN to take over

Time to listen

After five years of devastating US occupation, some Iraqis now want the UN to take over, writes Salah Hemeid

As the world marks the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq this week, mostly with protests and indignation, a group of Iraqi politicians, intellectuals and tribal leaders have appealed to the United Nations to take control of the war-torn country and save Iraqis from "looming catastrophe".

Last week the group delivered a three-page petition addressed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to the UN's Cairo office demanding that the world organisation "shoulder its full responsibility" in rebuilding their devastated nation. "We believe that the only opportunity left for Iraq to be saved from a dark, but not inevitable, future is to engage the international community represented by the United Nations," said the group. Its members described themselves as "patriotic Iraqis deeply tormented by the tragic situation in our country". "We believe Iraq should be placed under UN supervision for a limited period of time so that it can move the political process back on its natural and correct track in order to start rebuilding Iraq," said the memo. It went on to argue that the first step should be a UN- supervised security and political plan aimed at achieving stability and national reconciliation, "the two cornerstones of rebuilding the state and nation in Iraq".

A neutral government of national unity should replace Nuri Al-Maliki's, charged with setting a timetable for elections and the drafting of a new constitution, a necessary step to "allow American troops to leave and the occupation to be brought to an end". Ahmed Al-Haboubi, a former minister and one of three coordinators of the petition, said it had been signed by scores of Iraqi dignitaries inside and outside Iraq. A campaign is underway to collect as many signatures as possible before the petition is presented to the New York headquarters of the world organisation. "This is just a beginning of a wide-ranging campaign that will also reach out to Iraqis in the diaspora," Al-Haboubi told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Five years of occupation has been a disaster and it must be brought to an end before Iraq disintegrates into chaos." Security Council resolutions already provide the UN with a mandate to play a leading role in helping Iraqis rebuild their country and reorganise national and local institutions. The UN, though, has opted to keep its distance from the activities of the occupation and the Iraqi government except in humanitarian affairs.

Neither Baghdad nor Washington has reacted to the petition and it is unlikely they will welcome the group's demands. The Bush administration has been pushing for an expanded UN presence in Iraq but it does not include a supervisory role and the Shia-Kurdish-led coalition is not expected to agree to anything that will weaken its control of the government. Indeed, the US is now looking towards a long-term relationship with Al-Maliki's government. US and Iraqi officials last week began preparatory talks in Baghdad aimed at securing two deals. The first, a strategic framework agreement, seeks to provide a blueprint for diplomatic, economic and security relations based on mutual sovereignty while the second, a status of forces agreement, will provide a legal basis for the presence of US troops after the UN mandate expires on 31 December. An Iraqi Foreign Ministry statement described the meeting as the start of formal talks during which "Iraq hopes to establish a framework for long-term cooperation and friendship, including an agreement on the temporary presence of US forces on the basis of mutual interests and respect for the sovereignty of both countries."

The two sides have released few details about what they hope to achieve through the deals and negotiations which are being conducted behind closed doors. But whatever the eventual terms of the agreement it has already served notice to Iraqis that the US and the government it backs in Baghdad are bent on keeping American troops in Iraq for a long time. Iraqis such as Al-Haboubi and the other signatories of the petition fear that the agreement will provide cover for the indefinite presence of US troops. "This will serve to institutionalise occupation," says Al-Haboubi, a leader of the Independence Party.

The group has no illusions about the uphill task they face in persuading the UN to take charge of the rebuilding of Iraq. They realise that most Iraqis have little faith in the world body after the Security Council formally sanctioned the US-British coalition as the "occupying power" in Iraq under Resolution 1483. Some even regard the UN as actively colluding with the occupation. They also know that increasing chaos and mounting casualties will deter the UN from assuming responsibility and that countries are likely to be reluctant to send troops to maintain order in Iraq if US soldiers withdraw.
Yet they are determined to press ahead with their demands, arguing that UN supervision of any transitional period is the best hope of preventing Iraq from slipping into an anarchic civil war. "The world is duty-bound to extend a helping hand to Iraqis as they seek to avert a looming calamity and save not just Iraq but the whole world from the dangers of division and fragmentation sparked by sectarian wars," says the petition. After five years of occupation Iraq is immersed in violence and fear. And if the country's recent history has shown how a war of liberation can turn into a fiasco, it has also exposed how the world failed to summon the moral strength and the political will needed to save Iraqis from the scourge of war and the Americans from the arrogance of power.