Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Staff

BAGHDAD, 14 February 2004 — A UN official sided with the United States in its dispute with Iraq’s powerful Shiite clergy over elections, saying yesterday it would be hard to organize a vote before the June 30 deadline to hand power to the Iraqis. But the United Nations’ special envoy to Iraq said major changes will be needed in the US formula for creating the next Iraqi government. Opposition to the plan put forward by the US-led coalition has increased among members of the Iraqi Governing Council.

The envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, also warned Iraqis to be wary of the risks of civil war as they compete for power in the future Iraq.

Brahimi met with council members yesterday as he wrapped up a weeklong mission to Iraq requested by Washington after its plans were shaken by criticisms from the country’s most influential cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini Al-Sistani.

The envoy said he would report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan next week and Annan would make recommendations on how to move forward soon afterward, perhaps within the next 10 days.

A spokesman for Brahimi said Al-Sistani’s demand for nationwide balloting would probably be too difficult to pull off by July in strife-ridden Iraq.

“The time between now and June is very short and that makes it unlikely that you can put mechanisms in place,” UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told reporters. “The elections don’t have to happen before then.”

If Annan’s recommendation mirrors that view, it could persuade Al-Sistani, who holds enormous influence among Iraq’s majority Shiites, to back off his demands for early elections, easing pressure on the US-led coalition. But Brahimi’s comments could open a new round of wrangling over the best way to pick the Iraqi government scheduled to take power on June 30.

Consensus was growing on the council to scrap the US plan and find an alternative, several members said yesterday. US officials have said they’re open to changes but haven’t said how far they’re willing to go.

The administration of US President George W. Bush is eager to end the formal occupation of Iraq and hand over security to Iraqis well before the November US presidential elections. Insurgents have stepped up violence, apparently in an attempt to wreck the transfer of power.

A US soldier was killed and two wounded late Thursday when an explosive device went off in western Baghdad near a Military Police patrol.

Meanwhile, the US military began moving in the 1st Cavalry Division to replace the 1st Armored Division, which controls Baghdad. The Cavalry’s 3rd Brigade took over security in the area of the Armored Division’s 3rd Brigade in a ceremony yesterday. The transfer throughout the capital is to be completed in a few months. The military is carrying out a huge redeployment of forces, moving out around 130,000 troops and replacing them with 110,000 others. The 1st Armored Division, based in Germany, arrived in Baghdad last May.

The United States argues that security concerns and lack of preparations make quick elections impossible and instead wants regional caucuses to select a provisional legislature. Lawmakers would in turn pick a government that would rule until elections in 2005. Al-Sistani said a government based on the caucuses would be “illegitimate” and insisted national elections could be held before the target date.