A new draft UN resolution on Iraq, which the United States plans to submit this week, should stress the creation of a provisional Iraqi Governing Council, the French Foreign Ministry said in Paris Monday.

"Regarding the provisional Iraqi Governing Council, the draft should, in our opinion, note its creation -- a first step of a process of putting into place representative institutions that must be part of a clear and precise timetable," said ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous.

France believes that the new resolution "should, as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has recommended, formalize the creation of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq and would in this way constitute a development of the resolution 1483," said the spokesman.

Adopted on May 22, Resolution 1483 gives the UN a mandate to contribute to humanitarian relief and the reconstruction of Iraq, which has been under the American-British military occupation since April 9.

US President George W. Bush's administration wants to introduce a resolution this week establishing a UN mission to oversee the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Britain also mentioned the possibility of a new UN resolution and Russia said the new resolution must reinforce the UN role in Iraq.

Iraq's 25-member interim Governing Council was set up by Washington on July 13 to designate procedures for drafting a constitution of the post-Saddam Hussein era.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2003)