U.S. Mum on Talks to Explore U.N. Role in Iraq

[Barrett808]

U.S. Mum on Talks to Explore U.N. Role in Iraq
By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) will meet with Iraqi officials next month to explore a U.N. role in guiding Baghdad's return to self-government, but the United States is keeping silent on whether it will attend the talks, a U.N. spokesman said on Wednesday.

While President Bush (news - web sites) told Annan by telephone that he thought a three-way meeting was "a good idea," the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority administering Iraq (news - web sites) has not responded to a U.N. invitation for the meeting, set for Jan. 19 in New York, said chief U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard.

Iraq's Governing Council has accepted the invitation and will be represented by Massoud Barzani, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim and Adnan Pachachi, the United Nations (news - web sites) said.

Told by a reporter that coalition officials were insisting they had not been contacted about the meeting, Eckhard said Annan had personally extended the invitation to Bush.

"I don't think the secretary-general feels that he needs to extend an invitation directly to the CPA when he has already done so to President Bush," Eckhard said.

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