Iraq

Pressure mounts for direct Iraq elections

The United Nations' Kofi Annan says he is considering a request from U.S. and Iraqi officials to legitimize the current plan for transferring power.

BAGHDAD - Up to 100,000 Iraqis marched peacefully through the center of Baghdad on Monday in a show of support for an influential Shiite cleric who opposes the way the United States plans to transfer power to Iraqis.

The march, the largest protest since the occupation of Iraq began 10 months ago, was a powerful display of solidarity among the long-oppressed Shiites, who make up more than 60 percent of the population, and whose leaders are beginning to realize their political influence over many Iraqis and, consequently, over American policy in Iraq.

The demonstration's organizers clearly intended to send a message to senior American and Iraqi officials who met with U.N. officials in New York on Monday to discuss the resistance from the cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani. Sistani's demands for direct elections of a transitional assembly before the handover on June 30 have forced American officials to turn to the United Nations in an effort to legitimize their own blueprint for selecting the assembly.

"The sons of the Iraqi people want a political system based on direct elections and a constitution that ensures justice and equality for everyone," Hashem Awadi, a representative of Sistani, told the crowd at one of Baghdad's main universities.

A representative of the ayatollah said in an interview that the cleric continues to insist on direct elections and wants the United Nations to monitor the process.

What role the United Nations will play, if any, is unclear, especially given the tenuous security situation in Iraq.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan promised U.S. and Iraqi leaders Monday that he would weigh their request to send a U.N. team to study if Iraq could have quick, direct elections for a new parliament.

Annan, who stressed that the security of U.N. staff will be paramount, gave indications he was leaning toward approving.

"If we get it wrong at this stage, it'll be even more difficult and we may not even get to the next stage," he said. "So I think it is extremely important that we do whatever we can to assist."

The United Nations is essentially being asked to help resolve an argument between the Bush administration and Sistani. The coalition wants to keep to a handover plan dating from Nov. 15, which calls for caucuses to choose a provisional assembly.

Agreeing to Sistani's request would essentially mean holding the direct elections by May, and Annan has said repeatedly it doesn't appear that would give enough time to prepare for a fair vote.

Annan said he recognizes that the election issue is urgent and that he hopes for a speedy decision.

Once the issue is resolved, Annan said, he expects the United Nations to play "an important role" from July onward in helping the Iraqis draft a constitution and prepare for general elections, which under the Nov. 15 agreement must be held by the end of 2005.

SAMAWAH, Iraq - Japanese soldiers entered a conflict zone Monday for first time since World War II, crossing into Iraq on a humanitarian mission that has stirred controversy at home while raising great expectations among Iraqis.

The 30-member Japanese engineering and water purification unit, escorted by Dutch troops, moved out from a U.S. military base in the Kuwaiti desert at midday and arrived after sundown at the Dutch garrison at Camp Smitty.

The camp is 3 miles outside Samawah and 140 miles south of Baghdad. When fully deployed by March, a 1,000-strong Japanese contingent will help purify water supplies, rebuild schools and provide medical care in southern Iraq. They will carry arms for self-protection, but their role will be noncombatant.

- Information from the New York Times, Associated Press and Washington Post was used in this report.

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