U.N. Council Wrestles with Iraq Issue

Spokesman Fred Eckhard said they met for an hour and 45 minutes in the secretary-general's 38th floor conference room, but had no word on the outcome of the talks, saying only that he thought Annan wanted to hear the members' positions.

Council members emerging from the session wouldn't comment for the record, but one diplomat who sought anonymity denied there was a deadlock and even that the panel was divided, despite disagreeing positions spelled out in capitals.

"Well, undivided, but undecided as well," the diplomat said. "Not divided on the basis of there being a proposition on which some agree and some disagree. There isn't a proposition there yet."

Said one envoy, "No approach has been put on the table, yet. The council is still in limbo, really, more than divided. The council hasn't yet come together."

The United States said last week it would be coming up with an "omnibus" draft resolution at the earliest at the end of this week. However, it now appears likely the proposal will be introduced later next week because of reports out of Washington of continued disagreements among administration factions -- namely between the State and Defense departments and even between the civilian and military contingents of the Pentagon.

Putting at least a positive spin on the situation, one U.S. official said some council members who weren't willing to sign on to the coalition operation now were making signs "they are willing to be more flexible in their approach; certainly, more willing to work with us in trying to deal with the reconstruction era in Iraq. So I think that's positive. What that will translate into once we get into the negotiations process I don't know. But, certainly, the signs are positive. Hopefully that will bode well for the negotiations."

U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Ramiro Lopes da Silva led a team of senior officials across the border from Jordan into Iraq Thursday to re-establish a permanent Baghdad presence of international personnel for relief operations.

Annan recalled them on the eve of hostilities in March.

Lopes da Silva and heads of the humanitarian agencies have been coordinating the delivery of emergency relief into Iraq by the world organization since the war began from outside the country, while waiting for conditions in Baghdad to stabilize to allow permanent re-entry.

He was expected to continue to administer the oil-for-food program, which 15 million Iraqis are completely dependent on for their daily food requirements.

This is the program that is set to expire June 3 under Security Council resolutions, and it was believed a key point for the Annan meeting. The panel has to determine its future, especially since the program supplies the daily rations for 60 percent of the total Iraqi population.

There was considerable support for continuing the program which was established to ease the suffering of the Iraqi people from the sanctions imposed by the council in 1990 in answer to Baghdad's invasion of Kuwait.

Now the debate is whether to lift the sanctions, as the United States seeks, suspend them as France wants or keep them in place until Iraq is declared free of weapons of mass destruction, as Russia wants. That's three of the five veto-wielding members of the council. The other permanent members are Britain and China.

But, as the diplomats said, there are not yet any formal proposals, and the resolution that finally comes out of the council may not resemble any one of those informal suggestions

Lopes da Silva accompanied the country representatives of the World Health Organization, Dr. Ghulam Popal; the World Food Program's Torben Due; Carel de Rooy of U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF; and the U.N. Development Program's Francis Dubois.

Communications, logistics, security and other key staff completed the team of 21 in a convoy of eight vehicles.

Their arrival in Baghdad brings the number of U.N. international staff working in Iraq to more than 60.