US Pins Hopes on Un to Bolster Iraq Force

The US is shaping a fresh United Nations resolution to persuade more countries to provide peacekeeping troops in Iraq after gaps in security were exposed by the devastating attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad this week.

The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, said yesterday officials were "exploring the language" of a new security council resolution that "might call on member states to do more".

The Pentagon hopes that a UN resolution might mollify countries reluctant to send forces without an international mandate. But Mr Powell also said the US would not cede control of security to a multinational force in Iraq.

Mr Powell, in New York for emergency meetings at the UN, said: "Additional language in a new resolution might encourage others _ The president has always felt the UN has a vital role to play."

Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, is scheduled to meet the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, this morning and will discuss the proposals.

At a news conference last night he backed the US plan. "What we want to see is a collaborative process so we have a resolution that represents a broad consensus of the security council. We all want _ a vital role for the UN in Iraq."

Mr Straw also supported the US position that it maintains control of any international peacekeeping force. "If you think about the number of troops the US has compared to any other country, it means that if you want there to be an effective military operation then the command has to be through the US."

The five permanent members of the security council met to discuss the resolution yesterday morning. Some security council diplomats privately expressed concerns that the US was trying to take advantage of the anger that followed Tuesday's bombing at the UN headquarters which left at least 23 dead.

Yesterday hundreds of soldiers and civilians, assisted by sniffer dogs, continued the search for bodies in the rubble of the Canal Hotel.

Ramiro Lopez da Silva, UN humanitarian coordinator, said 86 people were seriously wounded in the attack, and an unknown number of victims were still buried in the rubble.

He added that UN agencies would resume operations in Iraq on Saturday and there would be no full-scale evacuation of staff. UN support and administrative staff were being flown to Amman in Jordan and Larnaca in Cyprus, from where they would continue to help set up operations in Iraq.

Asked whether security would be dramatically increased around UN buildings in Iraq in the future, Mr Da Silva said: "We will always remain a soft target, that is the way we operate. We cannot create a divide between us and the people we serve."

Iraq has become increasingly chaotic with attacks shifting to soft targets, such as water supplies and oil pipelines.

UN diplomats will be watching the wording of any new resolution closely. The issue of control of the peacekeeping mission is a key stumbling block for many states reluctant to place troops under American command, including France, Russia and Turkey. India, which opposed the war, has suggested it could send a division of about 18,000 troops, but only under a UN resolution.

Michel Duclos, a French envoy, said: "To share the burden and the responsibilities in a world of equal and sovereign nations also means sharing information and authority." Wolfgang Trautwein, a German diplomat, called for a "wider UN role in the political field" as well as "broader military cooperation".

In a news conference following his meeting with Mr Annan, Mr Powell suggested foreign troops would appreciate working under the "solid, competent military leadership" of the US. "You have to have control of a large military organization. That's what the US leadership brings to the coalition. The issue of ceding authority is not an issue we have had to discuss today."

He said the peacekeeping effort in Iraq was already international, with 30 countries providing 22,000 troops, half from Britain. He said another five countries were close to sending military personnel and talks were ongoing with a further 14. There are currently 139,000 US troops in Iraq.

Japan said yesterday it might have to rethink a plan to dispatch its military to Iraq after the bombing. In keeping with the nation's pacifist constitution the government has said troops would be sent only to non-combat zones.

Mr Annan said: "I would like to see everyone come together to stabilize Iraq. There were divisions before the war, but we all realize it is urgent to bring peace to Iraq and the region. An Iraq in chaos is not in anyone's interest."

In an address to 45,000 UN workers worldwide, Mr Annan said the bomb in Baghdad had been "one of the darkest days in the history of the UN".