Deutsche Presse-Agentur  --  Arab News

NEW YORK, 15 April 2004 — The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, was expected to become the US ambassador in Baghdad once sovereignty is transferred to the Iraqis June 30, The New York Times reported yesterday.

The Times, quoting Washington officials, said Negroponte was the preferred choice of Secretary of State Colin Powell over Iraq hawks like Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, and Robert Blackwill, director of Iraq policy at the White House.

The US-led occupation forces were scheduled to return sovereignty to the 22-member Iraqi Governing Council on June 30, and at a press conference Tuesday night, President George W. Bush stood steadfastly by that date despite an strong upsurge in violence in Iraq in the past weeks.

Meanwhile, the United Nations is trying to build support among Iraqi factions to organize general elections in January to form an interim Iraqi government.

Both the June 30 sovereignty transfer and elections in January were being questioned, however, because of the growing insecurity. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that he might not be able to return UN workers to Iraq if the current violence continues.