US Secretary of State Colin Powell welcomed on April 15 proposals made by UN Undersecretary-General Lakhdar Brahimi about the establishment of an Iraqi caretaker government before the June 30 deadline for the US-led coalition to return sovereignty to Iraqis.
"I think they're very sound recommendations," Powell said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
"We'll have to study them. We'll have to discuss them within the United Nations, the Security Council, but they also have to be discussed within Iraq by the members of the Governing Council and by leaders in other parts of Iraq," the secretary said.
Brahimi, who is in Iraq in the capacity of special envoy for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said in Baghdad earlier Thursday that an Iraqi caretaker government, comprising of a prime minister, a president and two vice presidents, could be set up ahead of the June 30 deadline for power handover.
"We are confident that it will be possible to form such a government in a timely manner, that is during the month of May 2004," the envoy said.
Source: Xinhua