Iraqis are not likely to gain control of their country for at least one year, according to Britain's most senior civilian official in the Gulf state.
Mr John Sawers, Prime Minister Tony Blair's special envoy to Iraq said coalition forces did not intend to hand power to an Iraqi government until elections have been held, which he expected to take between one and two years.
He said in an interview he hoped an interim administration could be formed after a national conference in one to two months, but said its role would be to draw up a new constitution for Iraq.
Dashing the hopes of longtime opponents of Saddam Hussein who have returned in the expectation of quickly taking the reins, Mr Sawers said the US-British occupation would continue to control the day-to-day running of Iraq.
"I haven't talked to any Iraqi who thinks the job can be done better by some ad-hoc committee than by the coalition itself.
"We can't simply give power to these self-appointed individuals and we're not going to do that," he said.
A final draft resolution by London and Washington late last night sought endorsement of their occupation "until an internationally recognised, representative government is established by the people of Iraq and assumes [its] responsibilities".
|
Previous drafts had spoken of a 12-month period to be renewed as necessary.
"The resolution has some problems," said Mr Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress, which holds one of seven seats on a political council holding talks with Mr Sawers and the US overseer Mr Paul Bremer.
"It's not up to the Americans to delay this government. This is a sovereign issue ... We are allies of the United States but we do not take orders from the United States," Mr Qanbar said.
The seven-strong leadership council of former exiles has been holding talks with with Mr Sawers and Mr Bremer, hoping to form an interim government to run post-war Iraq in the near future.
But the British official said the coalition believes that the seven have yet to demonstrate either their popular support or their ability to run a country plagued by lawlessness and a shortage of basic services.
AFP