The US is to try to break the United Nations deadlock over Iraq by tabling in the next 24 hours a revised draft resolution that it hopes will bring Russia aboard. The fresh version of the security council resolution sets a December 15 deadline for the Iraqi governing council to produce a timetable for the transfer of power to Iraqis.
The new draft, co-sponsored by Britain and Spain, America’s closest allies in the war against Iraq, will go some way towards meeting the demands of Russia and France, which have been pressing for a speedy move to democracy.
The timetable should include target dates for the publication of a new Iraq constitution, elections and a handover of power. A western diplomat said the elections could be held as early as next spring.
The US ambassador, John Negroponte, said the US will seek a vote on the revised draft this week.
The US, which showed the draft to security council members at the weekend and yesterday morning, claimed to be confident of having in the bag the necessary majority of nine of the 15-member council.
The security council source said that while Russia is expected to support the draft resolution, it will probably not be enough to bring round France, which is expected to abstain but, crucially, not exercise its veto.
”Russia has been more accommodating, with the French further out and harder to reel in,” the source said.
The US needs the resolution in order to obtain UN legitimacy for its occupation of Iraq ahead of an international conference in Madrid next week to secure donations for Iraq reconstruction. So far, the response of most countries, including most of the EU, has been poor.
The US also hopes a UN stamp of approval will help to persuade other countries to send troops to Iraq.
As well as Russia, the new draft aims to meet criticism expressed last week by the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, over the slowness with which power is being transferred.
According to the new draft, the Iraq governing council must submit to the security council ”a timetable and a programme for the drafting of a new constitution for Iraq and for the holding of democratic elections under the constitution” by December 15.
There is a further olive branch for opponents by the inclusion of a reference to sovereignty. The draft now ”resolves that the governing council and its ministers are the principal bodies of the Iraq interim administration which will embody the sovereignty during the transitional period”.
At an EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg yesterday, Britain’s European partners opted to wait to see the shape of the resolution before committing themselves on donations.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, called on colleagues to match Britain’s pledge of â,¬375-million over two years.
”We would encourage others to be as generous as they are able within the limits of their own spending plans,” the foreign secretary said. ”It is now important for the international community to send a clear signal of its willingness to help Iraqis build on the progress already made.”
Britain had hoped that talk of a resolution would be enough to trigger European largesse. But no other member state announced a contribution, while several signalled there would be no pledge on top of a modest â,¬200 in EU funds confirmed yesterday.
In Baghdad, the stalemate over the planned arrival of Turkish troops in the country continued. The Iraqi governing council reiterated its opposition to Turkish troops, traditional enemies of the Kurds, on its soil. The Turkish military did little to help by stating it would respond in kind to any attacks on its forces by Kurds. – Guardian Unlimited Â