bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

David Enders

June 30 deadline to sovereignty is approaching fast - some say too fast

The counter on the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority  website continues to tick down the days until 'Iraqi sovereignty', but US lawmakers are increasingly concerned the handover will be nothing more than symbolic.

Senators Joe Biden and Richard Lugar, a Democrat and Republican who lead the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have begun to question President George W. Bush's commitment to the June 30 deadline.

'Whole weeks pass without any sign really of how things are proceeding,' Senator Lugar said.

The plan, drawn up by the provisional authority  and Iraqi political leaders, sees an interim government in place by the end of this month  that would take over responsibility on June 30.

With the backing of an international security force, a full election is planned for early next year.

But the apparent lack of a transition plan did not mean there was not one, said Steven Cook, an expert in  Middle East politics at the Council for Foreign Relations in New York.

'You're assuming that many things are going to change, but we're going to go from a Coalition Provisional Authority to the largest embassy in the world,' Mr Cook said, referring to  Saddam Hussein's largest presidential compound in Baghdad.

'The governing council will not be in any position to make any decisions about the economy or security, without consulting the United States. Just like there was no real plan or map for the end of hostilities, I think there's no plan because there doesn't need to be one.'

Provisional authority officials in Baghdad said the transition plan was being left in the hands of United Nations representative Lakshar Brahimi and Iraqi Governing Council members.

'We're keeping an open mind,' a spokesman said. 'We believe that sovereignty will be transferred, and  it will be meaningful.'

Complicating the handover is widespread civil unrest.  Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army is sweeping cities across the country and hardcore Sunni militias are waging an unabated guerilla conflict.

The path may be clearer after US administrator  Paul Bremer meets the Senate Foreign Relations Committee  in Washington between April 20 and 22.

Part of the discussion has focused on whether the US Defence Department might send more troops to Iraq, something Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday said would be left up to commanders in Iraq.

Governing Council member Mahmoud Othman, who criticised the council and military for not consulting Iraqis before deciding to put out an arrest warrant for Mr Sadr, says the handover is now a second priority.

'We have had a meeting with [Mr Brahimi], but now everyone is busy with the security situation, it occupies everything. If security stays as it is, I don't think it is possible to transfer power,' Mr Othman said. Complaints to coalition  officials to fix security before June 30 had fallen on deaf ears.

'The response is that 'security is our responsibility', but these are very dangerous measures. You are provoking Sunni and Shia at the same time. This is unthinkable,' he said.

A popular view among many Iraqis is that the US is creating instability to avoid a power handover, but Mr Othman is sceptical of such theories. 'I think they need a transition, even if it is not a formal one or a real one, before their elections,' he said.



Countdown continues to a largely symbolic handover