By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi Governing Council asked the United Nations (news - web sites) on Wednesday for help putting together a new government, a council spokesman said.
The council requested that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) send a U.N. team back to Iraq (news - web sites) to help organize a government that would take over from the U.S.-led coalition June 30, council spokesman Hamid al-Kafaai told The Associated Press.
The letter sent by council president Mohammed Bahr al-Ulloum, a Shiite cleric, also requested technical assistance in preparation for a general election due by the end of January 2005.
"The Governing Council has asked that the United Nations offers advice to Iraq in the field of elections and the formation of a transitional government," al-Kafaai said.
The United States has urged a U.N. role in the U.S.-backed political process for Iraq, and coalition spokesman Dan Senor welcomed news of the invitation.
The announcement of the invitation, decided in a council meeting Wednesday, followed remarks to reporters by Bahr al-Ulloum's deputy that Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric and his supporters on the U.S.-appointed Governing Council were unhappy with a U.N. report last month that found Iraq unready for elections ahead of June 30.
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