Global Policy Forum

By James Bone

At the Hillsborough summit in April, Tony Blair and President Bush promised a "vital role" for the United Nations in postwar Iraq. The draft resolution that Britain and America introduced in the UN Security Council last week paid lip-service to that pledge. The pre-amble says plainly: "The UN should play a vital role in providing humanitarian relief, in supporting the reconstruction of Iraq, and in helping in the formation of an Iraqi interim authority." But the actual text relegates the UN to an advisory and supportive role, providing legitimacy to the coalition without having real power. By contrast, it confers sweeping powers on coalition members to control Iraq's oil money and set up an interim Iraqi authority. The text represents a clear victory for the hawks in Washington, and in her resignation letter to Mr Blair, Clare Short said: "The assurances you gave me about the need for a UN mandate to establish a legitimate Iraqi government have been breached." She is not alone in her misgivings. US allies are also hinting at doubts.

The draft calls for the appointment of a UN "special co-ordinator" and devotes a whole page to outlining his or her tasks. The mandate includes facilitating the reconstruction of key infrastructure and the return of refugees, promoting human rights and encouraging international efforts to rebuild the Iraqi police, civil service and justice system. On the crucial question of the UN's political role, however, the text is vague. It calls for the special co-ordinator to work "with the authority and the people of Iraq with respect to the restoration and establishment of national and local institutions for representative governance". The UN, which has been handling all Iraq's oil revenues for seven years, also gets only a minor role in the use of the oil money. Iraq's oil income would be placed in a new Iraqi assistance fund and spent "at the direction of the authority, in consultation with the Iraqi interim authority". The UN Secretary-General, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank would name representatives to an advisory board to oversee the fund but the resolution does not say how many other people would sit on it nor what powers it would have.

Conspicuously absent is any mention of UN weapons inspectors, even though existing resolutions call for them to certify Iraq free of weapons of mass destruction before sanctions are lifted. Britain's tactics appear similar to last autumn when winning unanimous approval of Resolution 1441, giving Saddam Hussein "final opportunity" to comply with UN demands. Its arm twisted by Washington, Britain signed up to an opening offer that contained elements — such as coercive inspections backed by force — that it considered too hard-line. British officials described those as "negotiating fat" that would be shed in concessions to other Security Council members. Once again, Britain has capitulated to the Bush Administration in drawing up the latest text. Diplomats say Britain originally wanted greater powers for the UN co-ordinator, a continuing role for inspectors and UN control of oil revenues.

Mr Blair and Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, appear to be gambling that some of the lost ground can be recovered in the Security Council, where other members will demand concessions from the Americans. Having won the war, however, the hawks in Washington have a stronger hand than they did last autumn and it is unclear how much they will give away. France said that it was ready to discuss the US-British proposal as a "starting point" but wanted a stronger role for the co-ordinator and international control of the oil money.

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