Global Policy Forum

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called on the American-led forces in Iraq to set out a "clear timetable" for a staged withdrawal, noting that numerous Iraqis had told United Nations officials that "democracy should not be imposed from the outside."

While welcoming the formation last weekend of the 25-member Governing Council for Iraq, Mr. Annan said in a report distributed to Security Council members on Friday that "there is a pressing need to set out a clear and specific sequence of events leading to the end of the military occupation."

The report comes at a delicate moment, less than a week after India declined to provide military assistance in Iraq unless it could be done with United Nations authorization. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has indicated a willingness to explore a new resolution, but, simultaneously, United States military officials are predicting a prolonged guerrilla war that could keep high levels of troops in Iraq for months.

The issue of a new resolution was not addressed in the report, though it did conclude by noting that "the legitimacy and impartiality of the United Nations is a considerable asset in promoting the interests of the Iraqi people."

The report's overall tone indicated cooperative relations between Mr. Annan's special representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who is scheduled to appear before the Security Council on Tuesday, and the American administrator, L. Paul Bremer III. But it included some pointed criticisms of the occupation's administration.

While making note of the "egregious violations of human rights" by Saddam Hussein's government, the report questioned the treatment of detained Iraqis.

The United Nations report also chides the provisional authority for its failure to restore order, saying that "for ordinary Iraqis, as well as United Nations personnel, the principal security threat currently comes from violent crime."

The report offered a picture of a crippled society struggling to restore basic services and rebuild its institutions. The health care system is operating at 30 to 50 percent of its prewar capacity, and while schools are open, attendance "remains significantly down."

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