UN to host key meeting on rescue plan for Iraq

Iraq and its neighbours are to meet with major powers and donors here Saturday to review a UN-backed blueprint to rebuild the war-ravaged country riven by sectarian violence and divisions.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will co-chair the ministerial session which will consider how to bolster the UN presence in Iraq and weigh a five-year plan to stabilize the country on the political, economic and security fronts.
Organisers said the meeting aims to build on the momentum generated at the international conference on Iraq in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh last May.
Some 20 countries, including the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- and eight neighbours of Iraq -- Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, are to attend.
Participants are to examine "challenges and opportunities" in implementing UN Security Council resolution 1770 adopted last month, as well as support for the Baghdad government's efforts to curb sectarian strife through an inclusive political dialogue and national reconciliation.
Resolution 1770 extended the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) by one year and urged it to "advise, support and assist" the Iraqi government on a wide range of issues.
The UN was specifically tasked with assisting Baghdad in pursuing national reconciliation and facilitating dialogue with its neighbours on issues of border security, humanitarian aid and the return of the estimated 4.5 million Iraqi refugees.
Ban told a press conference Tuesday that he planned to discuss with Maliki "how to strengthen the UN role" in Iraq and review the "International Compact," the five-year rescue plan adopted last May at the Sharm el-Sheikh conference.
The International Compact with Iraq (ICI) is a joint initiative by the United Nations, the World Bank and Baghdad.
"The United Nations wants to do what it can to help in Iraq, subject to what the security situation permits and what the Iraqis themselves want us to be doing," UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe told AFP Wednesday.
"This meeting should be an important opportunity to exchange views with them in order to chart out the way forward," Pascoe said.
The UN allowed a maximum of 65 staffers to reside in Iraq after its Baghdad office was hit on August 19, 2003 by a truck bomb that killed 22 people, most notably its special envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Currently there are 95 UN international staffers in the country -- 65 in Baghdad and 30 in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil -- in addition to several hundred international security personnel.
Some 235 UN-affiliated staffers also work out of Jordan and Kuwait.