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The case for a provisional
government
By Valentinas Mite
BAGHDAD - The rapid establishment of an Iraqi
provisional government would be a key step toward easing
out the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and moving
in sovereign Iraqi rule, says Adnan Pachachi, one of the
most influential members of the US-appointed Iraqi
Governing Council (IGC).
Pachachi spoke to
RFE/RL as CPA head L Paul Bremer arrived in Washington
on Wednesday for urgent talks on resolving the problem
of security and governance in the chaotic post-Saddam
Hussein nation.
The US administration has grown
increasingly concerned about securing a transition
strategy with the approach of a December 15 deadline set
by the United Nations for the IGC to name a panel to
draft Iraq's new constitution.
But Washington is
also seeking a ruling body that - unlike the IGC - will
be seen as legitimate in the eyes of the Iraqi people,
and not an instrument of the US government.
Pachachi says that a provisional Iraqi
government would establish the solid foundation needed
before moving forward with work on a constitution and
popular elections: "The idea, which seems to be gaining
ground, is that we should have a provisional government
within a clear legal frame. If you have to have a proper
constitution, you need many, many things. You need first
of all a population census; you need an accurate and
detailed one."
Pachachi, who served as Iraq's
foreign minister from 1965 to 1967, says that many
challenges must be met before Iraq can achieve full
sovereignty. An election law should be adopted, a voting
system established, the judiciary reformed, and a draft
constitution submitted for a referendum.
But
Iraqis, he says, are growing impatient under CPA rule -
something a provisional Iraqi government could solve.
The Sunni statesman adds that the UN Security Council
resolution passed last month sets the conditions needed
for such a government. Resolution 1551 says that the CPA
will cede authority "when an internationally recognized,
representative government established by the people of
Iraq is sworn in", Pachachi said.
"It will mark
the end for the CPA," he added. "Once there is a
representative Iraqi government, provisional or not, and
internationally recognized, that's the end for the CPA
because it is said very clearly in the council
[resolution] that when this happens, the CPA has to
transfer all its power to the Iraqi government."
Such a government, Pachachi stresses, does not
have to be elected in a popular vote. Its members can be
appointed by the IGC, which could then expand in size
and act as a legislative body in tandem with the
provisional executive.
Asked whether the IGC has
the authority to appoint a provisional government,
Pachachi turns again to Resolution 1551, which states
that the IGC is the principal body of the Iraqi interim
administration and "embodies the sovereignty of the
state of Iraq during the transitional period".
Still, it is the approval of the US, and not the
UN, that Pachachi's proposal will need before it can
move ahead. The IGC member says that the idea has been
under discussion with CPA officials, but that a clear
"yes" or "no" has yet to be heard: "We have been
discussing this with them for some time now. It's
nothing new, you know. And we hope that perhaps finally
we may have persuaded them. I don't know. We'll see,
we'll keep on trying."
The fate of the 25-member
IGC itself is uncertain. Western media have reported
that the US administration is deeply frustrated with the
IGC and is contemplating an alternative. A recent
article in The Washington Post cites a US official as
saying that ICG members have dawdled on issues of key
importance, like the selection of a constitutional
committee.
But Pachachi said that the IGC will
meet the December 15 deadline for presenting a
constitution timetable to the UN. He says that he is
also unaware of any US complaints regarding the
council's work and that, if anything, the body's
ministers are more troubled than the Americans by the
slow pace. "People are quick to forget that the council
was only formed in July," Pachachi says. "The ministers
were appointed only in the middle of September ... There
was nothing we could do [until that time]."
Copyright (c) 2002, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted
with the permission of Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut
Ave NW, Washington DC 20036
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