Global Policy Forum

The new UN envoy to Iraq has moved quickly to try to stake out an independent role for the United Nations, making clear that his top priority is going to be protecting the interests of the Iraqi people under the US-led occupation. With only a four-month assignment, Sergio Vieira de Mello said he plans to begin work by next Monday and the top of his agenda will be to consult Iraqi leaders and opinion makers "to make sure that the interests of the Iraqi people come first" in rebuilding their country. The UN role in post-war Iraq was a key issue during the intense Security Council negotiations on a resolution lifting sanctions and authorising the United States and Britain to administer the country until a democratic government is established.

Under pressure from France, Russia and Germany - which opposed the war - the secretary-general's special representative was given "independent responsibilities" but at the same time told to work "intensively" with the United States, Britain and Iraqi officials in reconstruction and setting up a new administration. Standing beside Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday at the first news conference since his appointment, Vieira de Mello said working with the US-led administration "is part of the rules of the game". But he said that establishing "good working relations" with the administration was a second priority.

"As I hit the ground, priority number one will be to establish contacts with ... representative Iraqis, Iraqi leaders, representatives of the media, of civil society, and there are many," he said. "Iraqi society is rich - and that richness has been suppressed brutally for the last 24 years but they are there, or are returning as we speak, and they are my priority." Vieira de Mello also plans to visit all 18 provinces to find out what the Iraqi people want for their future. But he warned that "it will be impossible" to start building democratic institutions and a culture of human rights until law and order is restored - and that must be the immediate priority. Security is the responsibility of the US and British occupying powers.

The 55-year-old diplomatic trouble-shooter from Brazil, who made a name for himself in hotspots from Bangladesh to Lebanon and Cambodia, was the top choice of the United States which lobbied quietly for his selection. He is also highly respected internationally as well as by human rights groups. Annan said he made the difficult decision to let Vieira de Mello leave his post as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights temporarily because of his "exceptional and unique experience" in running post-conflict UN operations in Kosovo and East Timor. "It is the first time we are working on the ground with an occupying power side-by-side trying to help the population in the territory," Annan said. "I have asked him to go and help establish the United Nations presence - establish a relationship, mount the operation."

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