U.N. to Send Team to Iraq as It Prepares for Eventual Return

U.N. officials said Tuesday that a small team would return to Baghdad within two weeks, a symbolic move nearly three months after the organization withdrew its international staff because of security concerns.

Two security officers and two military advisors will go to Iraq “to provide support to local staff, make security assessments and strengthen the liaison with the coalition,” said a letter from senior U.N. official Kieran Prendergast to U.S. Ambassador John D. Negroponte. The letter also asked the U.S.-led coalition for help with the team’s security in Iraq.

The U.N. withdrew its personnel after 22 people were killed when its Baghdad headquarters was bombed Aug. 19.

The latest move does not necessarily mean that the United Nations will return in force right away, a U.N. official said. But the team will be putting the pieces in place for eventual reengagement, once experts deem the political and physical risks manageable, the official said.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has invited members of the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S.-led coalition to meet with him Monday to discuss what the U.N. can best do in Iraq, and how.

“They’re testing the waters,” a U.N. diplomat said. “No one wants the U.N. to be a target again, but there’s a feeling that it may be time to take the next step to help Iraq.”

To prepare for the Jan. 19 meeting, political affairs undersecretary-general Prendergast, peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno and officials from the U.N.’s security coordination office met Tuesday with Negroponte and representatives from the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They discussed the technicalities of the U.N.’s re-entry to Iraq, and its potential role in the country -- a role that has been the core of contention between the Bush administration and the U.N.

In a move that slightly diminished the distance between the two, Prendergast asked the U.S. to provide air transport for the U.N. team from Amman, Jordan, until the U.N. can start regular flights to Baghdad. They also talked about coordinating security with the United States for U.N. staffers as they plan for a return to the country, diplomats familiar with the discussions said.

Washington has been pressing the U.N. to reestablish a presence in Iraq to lend legitimacy and expertise to the country’s troubled transition to self-rule, scheduled for July 1.

U.S. plans to create a provisional government through a series of caucuses were again rejected Sunday by influential Shiite leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who said it was not transparent or representative enough.

In a decree issued Sunday, Sistani said that an interim legislature must be directly elected -- a system that would favor Shiites, who make up 60% of the population. Though he had asked for Annan’s judgment on the feasibility of elections in six months, Sistani seems to have rejected the secretary-general’s conclusion that they were not possible and has appealed to the U.N. to come up with an alternative.

American officials, unable to contact the religious leader directly, said they would welcome the U.N.’s help in reaching him, as well as assistance in restructuring the caucuses in a way that would satisfy Sistani and others.

But the U.S.-led coalition so far has been unwilling to cede real control -- and the U.N., leery of taking on risks without actual authority, has been reluctant to return before the occupation ends.

Concerned that perceptions that the U.N. was a part of the occupation led to the August bombing, Annan has insisted on maintaining distance from the U.S.-led administration.

Protecting the organization’s personnel -- and its neutrality -- are his top priorities, Annan has said.

Although the appeals for help from both the Iraqis and the U.S. are seen here to reaffirm the importance of having the U.N., which is most expert in nation-building, in Iraq, they also risk being used by one side to tip the scales in their favor.

“Obviously the U.N. did not want to appear as if it was not in any way responsive,” said Mark Schneider, vice president of the nonprofit International Crisis Group.

“On the other hand, it is clear that they have not made a final determination as to the nature of their commitment. I suspect they’re still going to be looking for more authority than they’ll be accorded.”

U.N. officials downplayed perceptions that the U.N. was returning because of U.S. pressure, saying that they had been planning the mission to upgrade security arrangements for local staffers and to prepare a protected base for any international workers who may return.

Renovations of the Canal Hotel, the U.N. headquarters that was heavily damaged by the August bombing, are expected to be completed next month.

The preparations show a recognition of the inevitability of the organization’s return to Iraq. But they also reveal a slow healing of the world body, which was profoundly shaken by the deaths of some of its best and brightest diplomats in the bombing. The experience stirred Annan to take a stand on what the U.N. would do -- and to take a clear step away from the United States.

Now, making arrangements to go back to Iraq is not so much a concession to the coalition, diplomats said, as rolling up its sleeves to replace the coalition in some ways after June 30, when the occupation is slated to end.

“It’s a step in a long process,” a U.N. official said. “A small step.”

Farley reported from the United Nations and Efron from Washington.