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By Mona Megalli
REUTERS
www.reuters.com
Friday, May 16, 2003

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Western administrators vowed on Friday to ban loyalists of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party from public office, while Washington battled to win international backing for a U.N. resolution scrapping sanctions.

Iraq's U.S.-installed administration may stop between 15,000-30,000 Baath party die-hards from holding public service jobs, senior civil officials from the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, meanwhile, continued a tour of the Middle East and Europe seeking support for a U.N. Security Council resolution to lift blocks on Iraqi oil exports and traveled to Germany, one of the fiercest critics of the U.S.-led war in Iraq which ended last month.

Powell met German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and offered to patch up relations soured by the war so long as Germany supported the United States in post-war Iraq.

Schroeder offered guarded support for ending sanctions but gave no indication that Germany, one of the non-permanent members on the Security Council, would back the new resolution.

"We together established that it makes sense in New York at the United Nations to move toward each other, to develop a position that is as unified as possible," Schroeder said.

Powell, who failed on Wednesday to win Russian support, said work on winning over Security Council members was still ongoing.

In an effort to gain that support the United States on Thursday submitted a new draft of its resolution.

A revised draft slightly enhances the U.N. role and proposes ways to resolve Iraq's massive foreign debt but leaves basic U.S. administration demands unchanged.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said on Friday France, which does have veto power on the Security Council, would make "constructive suggestions" for amendments to be made to the resolution.

"DE-BAATHIFICATION"

In Baghdad, a senior ORHA official said attempts at "de-Baathification" may in the short term hamper Iraq's recovery, but should be pursued.

"We have to recognize that de-Baathification will necessarily entail some inefficiency in the running of government," said the official, requesting anonymity.

"We understand that is a price we are willing to pay to be sure that we extirpate Baathism from Iraq's society."

Up to 700,000 of Iraq's 26 million people were full Baath Party members. Many more were registered as supporters.

In an effort to restore order, Iraq's occupiers have reinstated much of the police force and asked government workers to restore public services. But top ministry officials have been ordered to sign a document denouncing the party that had ruled Iraq since 1968.

Pro-American Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi has also called for "de-Baathification," warning of violence if top officials are not held to account.

U.S.-led forces have detained about a third of the officials on a list of 55 most wanted Iraqis and are holding up to 7,500 prisoners of war. They have suggested that Iraqis set up their own special court to try those accused of crimes.

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