Annan Announces Iraqi Request for UN Assistance on Drafting Constitution
New York, May 31 2005 6:00PM
Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced today that Iraqi authorities have officially requested assistance from the United
Nations in drafting and building consensus around the country’s new constitution.
According to a statement by a UN spokesman, the request came in a letter from the President of the Transitional National
Assembly, Mr. Hajim N. Al-Hasani, received yesterday. The letter invited the United Nations to help promote national
dialogue between the Iraqi National Assembly’s Constitutional Drafting Committee and the Iraqi people, and to help build
consensus nationwide for the draft constitution.
The Secretary-General had previously dispatched a constitutional support team from the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (<'http://www.uniraq.org/">UNAMI) to Baghdad. The team led by Mr. Nicholas Fink Haysom of South Africa, has been
engaged in preparatory activities since mid-April. Under the leadership of the Secretary-General’s Special
Representative, the statement said, Mr. Haysom and his team will work closely with the Iraqi Government, the
Transitional National Assembly and other relevant bodies as well as with the international donor community.
“The Secretary-General hopes that the people of Iraq will seize this historic opportunity to pursue a constitutional
process that is inclusive, participatory, transparent and responsive to the key demands of all Iraqi political
constituencies,” the statement concluded. “He hopes that every effort will be made to complete the drafting of the
constitution within the timetable for Iraq’s political transition.”
ENDS