UN Urges Iraqis to Set Up Body to Oversee New Govt.

[Barrett808]

UN Urges Iraqis to Set Up Body to Oversee New Govt.
By Matthew Green

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United Nations envoy in Baghdad urged Iraqis on Wednesday to press on with setting up a broad parliamentary-style body to help oversee the new interim government that is charged with organizing elections.

Lakhdar Brahimi, who played a mediating role in setting up the government announced on Tuesday to take over from the U.S. occupation authority, said a group of about 60 leading Iraqis would criss-cross the country this month to organize a planned national conference in July that would select the new chamber.

"It's more than a consultative body but it's less than a legislative body," he told a news conference as he laid out the next step on the path to Iraq's first free elections in January under a transition process agreed with the United States.

"It is only an elected government that can legitimately claim to represent the people of Iraq," he said, as debate rumbled on among Iraqis about the choice of interim ministers.

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