Iraqi Council debates power handover

Iraq’s US-installed Governing Council began a debate on the thorny issue of how to manage the handover of power from US occupation forc...

Iraq’s US-installed Governing Council began a debate on the thorny issue of how to manage the handover of power from US occupation forces to Iraqis. Officials also announced international donors would meet this month in Abu Dhabi to start channelling $15 billion in aid pledged for reconstruction efforts.

The Governing Council met on Monday to discuss how that would happen now the possibility of holding elections before June had been all but ruled out. ‘‘We want an agreement on how we will create the leadership that will be handed sovereignty,’’ council member Mahmoud Othman said as the first of several planned meetings began. ‘‘We have two options: either expanding the Governing Council by adding new members or holding a national conference that will include all the Iraqi powers.’’ Council members said they would have a proposal by the end of the month.

The UN, which sent a mission to Iraq last week, is trying to resolve a dispute between majority Shi’ites, who have been demanding elections before the handover, and Washington which says there is no time to organise them. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will announce his position later this week. An estimated $56 billion is needed over the next few years to fund rebuilding Iraq after the invasion and more than a decade of sanctions.

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Iraqi Planning Minister Mehdi al-Hafedh said an international donor conference would meet from February 28-29. He said countries pledging a minimum of $10 million each would take part in the conference, which would activate two funds run by the World Bank and the UN.

Meanwhile, two US soldiers were killed in roadside bomb blasts in Iraq on Monday and at least one child died in a grenade explosion near a school. US soldiers and Iraqi police arrested two men after the Baquba explosion.

Monday’s blasts brought to around 375 the number of US soldiers killed in action Iraq since the US-led invasion last March which toppled Saddam Hussein.

One of Saddam’s associates arrested after the invasion, former Iraqi Parliament speaker Saadoun Hammadi, was freed at the weekend. Hammadi’s son, Ghassan, said on Monday his father had suffered but apparently not been maltreated or faced any formal charge. —(Reuters)