UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The Iraq Advisory Group of 17 nations Monday urged U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to speedily appoint an acting Special Representative to the nation.
Ambassadors and other representatives and their aides from Angola, Britain, Chile, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Syria, Turkey and the United States met with Annan for about two hours in a basement conference room.
"We certainly urged that the secretary-general appoint a special representative or an acting special representative as soon as possible and that is also the request of the Iraqi Governing Council, Ambassador John Negroponte of the United States told reporters afterwards.
Annan's top man in Baghdad, Sergio Vieira de Mello was killed along with 21 others in the Aug. 19 bombing of U.N. headquarters in the Iraqi capital.
However, since the attack, U.N. personnel have pulled out of Baghdad and such a representative of Annan was likely to be based outside the country, possibly in Cyprus, but Negroponte said that was "the secretary-general's own call."
Sidestepping specifics, Washington's envoy said the meeting concentrated on economic development, reconstruction and political transition alll under an umbrella of security.
