UNITED NATIONS, April 15 (UPI) -- Top U.N. trouble-shooter Lakhdar Brahimi wound up his mission in Iraq Thursday and is to brief U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan later in the month.
U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Brahimi and his team spent the day in the southern Iraqi city of Basra "where he continued his wide-ranging contacts."
The former foreign minister of Algeria was in Iraq to consult on possibilities for an interim government to take over power from the Coalition Provisional Authority June 30 and for Iraqi elections next January.
Brahimi, "had the opportunity to meet with representatives of civil society, civil servants, religious parties and clerics, as well as tribal personalities." she said. "Brahimi also met with the Coalition Provisional Authority's representative in southern Iraq, Pat Nixon."
Asked when the special adviser would return to U.N. World Headquarters in New York, Okabe said it would be towards the end of April when he would meet with and present the secretary-general with his preliminary observations and tentative ideas.
Brahimi told reporters Wednesday it was only after he returned to Iraq, following the upcoming consultations with Annan and members of the U.N. Security Council, and additional talks in Iraq that he would finalize recommendations to the secretary-general on Iraq's future and a possible U.N. role.
