The Iraqi Foreign Minister laid out the details Tuesday for a resumption of sovereignty that calls for nationwide elections by the end of 2005, but he warned that movement toward democracy depends on the establishment of a stable and secure country.
"Progress will continue to depend on the security situation in Iraq," Hoshyar Zebari told the United Nations Security Council, hours after news that a fierce gunfight about 100 kilometres north of Baghdad.
"The capture of Saddam Hussein will deal a huge blow to his misguided former loyalists," Mr. Zebari said confidently. He called for a quick return of the United Nations and urged those on the sidelines to realize that the battle being waged in Iraq is crucial for the stability of the Middle East and beyond.
"The consequences of allowing the terrorists to win in Iraq will spill over our borders and no country will be safe," he said.
Shortly before Mr. Zebari addressed the Security Council, the U.S. military issued a statement describing a battle in Samarra, north of Baghdad, that they said left 11 rebels dead. In the incident, which happened Monday afternoon, scouts released a flock of pigeons as the U.S. patrol approached, apparently as a signal to other fighters.
Two gunmen on motorcycles then opened fire on the U.S. convoy vehicles before taking cover among children leaving a school. The U.S. statement said that the patrol had used snipers to neutralize the threat, killing 11 rebels, without harming bystanders.
Samarra, a volatile town in the so-called Sunni Triangle to the north and west of Baghdad, was the scene of an intense battle between U.S. troops and insurgents last month. U.S. commanders said they had killed 54 guerrillas, but local residents and police reported that fewer than 10 people — most of them civilians — died in the firefight.
In a similar vein, the sole hospital in Samarra told the French wire service Agence France-Presse on Tuesday that they had received only one body and one wounded person after Monday's shootout.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan alluded to the violence in his own comments to the Security Council. The UN pulled out of Iraq following a deadly bombing in August and is co-ordinating relief efforts from Cyprus and Amman. On Tuesday, Mr. Annan said that the UN is looking for "greater clarity" from the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S. interim authority on what its role should be.
Mr. Annan said that the United Nations is ready to contribute to a trial of former leader Saddam Hussein, who was captured Saturday and is being held in an undisclosed location. Mr. Zebari also broached the capture and eventual trial of Mr. Hussein, saying that it is important for Iraqis to understand that "he is never coming back."
On Tuesday, a spokesman for Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi was reported as saying that Mr. Hussein can get a fair trial in his home country.
"I think the trial will be just and fair because all parties are interested in making it fair," Entifadh Qanbar told the BBC. "It will also send the right message to have a trial conducted in Iraq by Iraqis to heal the wounds of those victims or the families of the victims."
As the former titular head of his country's armed forces, Mr. Hussein has been classified for now as a prisoner of war. A senior U.S. official told The New York Times that his status may be changed if it is determined that he played a role in attacks on non-military targets after May 1, the date Washington deems the end of military hostilities.
An academic and the former top legal official at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Yves Sandoz, said that the United States would be breaching the Geneva Conventions if they tried to revoke his PoW status.
"It's very clear in the Geneva Conventions that they apply to specific people, Saddam Hussein as supreme chief of the armed forces, from the moment he is captured and until he is freed," Mr. Sandoz told Agence France-Presse.
He said that prisoner-of-war status remains while a country is under occupation or for at least a year after a conflict was over.
"He is a prisoner of war and he stays a prisoner of war during trial against him, until he is repatriated, or with the execution of the sentence," Mr. Sandoz said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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