To elect, or not to elect
The UN team investigating the possibility of holding early elections in Iraq concluded its mission. The team's findings will be reported to, and later announced by, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Nermeen Al-Mufti, in Baghdad, meets the team's spokesman, Ahmed Fawzi
For Ahmed Fawzi, spokesman of the UN team to Iraq, the two bombings of Iskandariya and Baghdad, which coincided with the team's visit last week, leaving more than a hundred killed and scores more wounded, must have been a painful reminder of last August's bombing of the Baghdad UN headquarters where he was stationed at the time. "I lost a lot of friends in that attack," Fawzi says, noting that the impact of the incident will long continue to haunt him.
"As a UN employee, I am still deeply wounded. It was a great shock for all of us. UN employees work under, and are protected by, the blue flag. There is no justification whatsoever for such an act of barbarity. But such is the perverse logic of terrorism, which does not respect acknowledged rules or laws. The UN should deal with this new development."
Responding to a question about whether he could understand the bitterness some Iraqis feel towards the UN because of its 12-year sanctions regime which caused unspeakable suffering and cost thousands of lives, Fawzi says: "Let me begin by saying that the sanctions system was cruel. Under that system the Iraqi people, not the Iraqi regime, suffered the most." He is quick to add, however, that this has nothing to do with UN staff. "We civil servants in the UN did our best to help the Iraqi people through the distribution system. Sanctions were imposed by Security Council member-states and not by UN workers. There are 15 member-states in the Security Council, and many different political agendas. But having said that, we also must remember that those sanctions were approved following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait."
Concentrating on the present rather than the past, Fawzi says he is very saddened by what is happening in Iraq now. "We want to help the Iraqis; we are here to do that. We will do all we can to make sure the country eventually emerges from decades of suffering," he says.
As for the findings of the UN team, and the recommendations the team is likely to make to the UN secretary-general, Fawzi says: "We have already gathered much interesting data. Without getting into details, a great deal of what we have discussed with the various concerned parties has to do with the feasibility of holding direct elections in Iraq in this transitional stage."
The talks the team had in Iraq, according to Fawzi, focussed on questions such as "Does the 30 June deadline [stipulated by the 15 November agreement] for power transfer provide enough time for holding direct elections?" Also Fawzi said the team had to investigate the possibility of holding fair elections in Iraq, as, "We [the UN team] do not know enough about mechanisms in Iraq -- whether before or after the war -- that can guarantee the holding of fair elections." This is one of the things the team will have to report on to the UN general secretary, Fawzi said.
According to Fawzi, the UN team comprises a number of experts on such matters, including "the head of the elections unit in the political department of UN, a unit that had supervised many successful elections in many countries in the past". Still, Fawzi says "procedures differ from country to another and we need to know what system and procedures Iraqis want; which of these procedures already exist, and which should be created."
The UN was called upon to investigate all those matters because, according to Fawzi, "it is the only party with no political or economic agenda in Iraq." But surely the UN will have to take into account what the US and its Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) want. "We are a neutral body, working for the welfare of the Iraqi people, helping them to restore the sovereignty of Iraq according to Security Council resolutions. We are here to help the Iraqis first, then the CPA," Fawzi says emphatically.
What about criticism levelled by many Iraqis at the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC)? How did this affect the UN team's discussions with the IGC? "Naturally, the UN team met with members of the IGC several times," Fawzi says. "We are aware of the criticism some Iraqis express against the IGC. Still, it is the representative body acknowledged by the UN." Fawzi is was also quick to add that his team "met various other political and non- political Iraqi personalities and organisations, including women, in order for the team to get the widest spectrum of opinions expressed in the country".
Finally, what about direct elections; are they possible given the situation in Iraq? "Of course they are possible," Fawzi replies with enthusiasm. "Elections are the best way towards achieving democracy," he adds. But how feasible are they now? In other words, when exactly does he imagine direct elections can be held in Iraq? "We are here to find out about the time," he says, refusing to say more.
He did say in a public statement, however, before leaving the country, that elections would take place, "after the handover of power".
