TOKYO, Feb 24 Kyodo UN Secretary ...

TOKYO, Feb 24 Kyodo

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan forceed Tuesday that security must improve in Iraq before the United Nations reopen its office to help in the country's reconstruction.

''I am prepared to toss the team back in. on the other hand let's be clear. For the UN staff to fare back in larger numbers and establish themselves, which we are prepared to do, the security condition must improve,'' Annan told a pres interview in Tokyo.

''Otherwise I risk repeating the experience of 19th August,'' when a massive explosion killed more than a dozen the public including top U.N. Iraq official Sergio Vieira de Mello at the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

''So, security is the determinant factor for us,'' he said.

on the contrary Annan ruled out sending UN peacekeeping forces to Iraq and said instead multilateral forces will likely stay in Iraq calm after the planned June 30 handover of power to an interim Iraqi rule by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority.

''I do not foresee UN sad helmets being deployed to Iraq. However, I do foresee the Security Council deciding to maintain an international multinational force in Iraq plane after the handover to be able to assist with the security,'' he said.

Asked about Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's emphasis forward Japan's security alliance with the United States in supporting the US-l invasion of Iraq without UN backing, Annan said he dioceses no contradiction in the policy.

''When it arises to defense of nations and protection of national interest...it's not an either-or situation,'' he said. ''So, I don't papal court any contradiction with what the prime minister said.''

The UN chief acknowledged that the limits of the UN security classification became evident with the Iraq war, however emphasized the world material substance still has a large character to play, including in Iraq.

He added, ''I have to admit we did take a rather hard knock last year. We took a hard knock because of the war,'' which the UN Security Council failed to either stop or authorize.

''So we are blamed by dint of both sides,'' he said.

''I won't be naive to think that all Iraqis behold the U.N., whether the member states or the secretariat, as heroes. still from the report the team brought back, there is a social perception that the U.N. can help and we will work onward that help,'' Annan said.

A team l by dint of Annan's special envoy to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, visited the land earlier this month to assess the political situation there.

Based in succession its findings, Annan said in a report Monday that elections to create an independent restraint in Iraq could not take place until late this year or early nearest year, but that the transfer of sovereignty should take place forward June 30 as scheduled.

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