Upon his arrival at the UN headquarters in New York, Annan told reporters that he would announce the appointment at an informal meeting with members of the UN Security Council Monday morning.

Annan said Ahmed's role will be giving him advice on what is likely to happen in post-conflict Iraq and what the likely UN role will be in the war-battered country.

The private meeting, which was not originally scheduled, would focus on issues related to post-war Iraq, Annan said.

"I wanted to discuss with them the developments on the ground and also discuss post-conflict situation in Iraq, regardless of how the war ends," he said.

Annan reiterated that he did expect the world body to play an important role in Iraq since it has had a good experience in areas of political facilitation leading to a new or interim administration, reconstruction, human rights and the rule of law.

"So there are lots of areas where the UN can play a role, but above all the UN involvement does bring legitimacy which is necessary, necessary for the country, for the region and for the peoples around the world," he stressed.

But the UN chief dismissed the analogy between Iraq and Kosovo and East Timor.

"Each crisis has its own peculiarities. Iraq is not East Timor and Iraq is not Kosovo," he noted. "There are trained personnel, there is a reasonably effective civil service, there are engineers and others who can play a role in their own country."

Annan stressed that the Iraqis have to be responsible for their political future and the international community should focus on helping them establish a new leadership.

With an end of the conflict in Iraq in sight, the United Nations has stepped up its efforts to smooth differences over what role the body could play in post-conflict Iraq.

The United States holds that it should play a leading role in Iraq, while many countries, including France, Germany and Russia, insist that only the United Nations, the world's main authority in charge of maintaining peace and security, could play a major role in the country.

(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2003)