Iraqi political leaders and US officials are due to meet today as a self-imposed deadline looms to forge a post-war interim government in Baghdad within the next few weeks.
The meeting was expected to add two new seats to the Council of Five, a core group of leaders tapped by the United States that is intended to oversee the birth of a democratic government after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The council is directing the political horse-trading ahead of a national congress, due to begin by the end of May, that will form a government and fill the political void that many Iraqis blame for the post-war chaos.
Water and electricity are scarce, and the World Health Organization said yesterday it feared an epidemic of cholera was breaking out in the southern city of Basra.
The United States this week named Mr Paul Bremer as the new civil administrator for Iraq amid gossip in Washington's corridors of power about the speed of the process under retired US general Mr Jay Garner.
Mr Garner is expected to focus on rebuilding and let Mr Bremer, a career diplomat, oversee the political rebirth of the nation.
Mr Garner's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Aid has made appointments to key ministries in recent days, and said today a special Iraqi court was likely to be set up that could try former members of Saddam's regime.
AFP