"The stability of Iraq should be everyone's business," Annan told reporters after the meeting (AFP)

UNITED NATIONS, January 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Amid unabated demonstrations by thousands of Iraqis and upon a request from the U.S.-led occupation authority, the U.N. is mulling to send a team of experts to the occupied oil-rich country to determine the feasibility of holding prompt and direct elections.

"I am looking at the possibility of sending a mission to Iraq to offer advice on the ground," U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan told reporters after a meeting Monday, January 19, with U.S. administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer and a delegation of the U.S.-sanctions Iraqi Interim Governing Council (IGC).

Under an American plan, regional bodies created by the occupation authority would handpick a transitional parliament by the end of May, which in turn would name a government to take over by June.

The scheme faces fierce opposition from several Iraqi powers, particularly by prominent Shiite scholar Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Thousands of Iraqis have been taking to streets in Baghdad and Basra to demonstrate opposition to the American plan and support for Sistani’s call for direct elections to select the parliament.

Annan said such a team, if sent, would advise whether national elections can be held before June 30, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The stability of Iraq should be everyone's business," he told reporters after the meeting.

"I think we have an opportunity to try and move forward."

He added that "technical" discussions would soon get under way to evaluate whether to send the mission, and that he would decide after hearing from U.N. experts.

Annan's cautious offer marked a breakthrough in the months-long bid by Washington to get the U.N. chief to play a role in Iraq's political transition despite being largely sidelined by the U.S.-led occupation authority.

Annan has been hesitant to send personnel back to Iraq and risk the lives of the staff he pulled out three months ago.

The U.N. ordered its staff to leave Iraq in October following two bombings at its Baghdad headquarters, that killed top envoy Sergio Vieira De Mello and 21 others.

He has also been reluctant to get enmeshed in the U.S. management of Iraq's political transition, with U.N. officials suggesting the world body would not resume a major role in Iraq until self-rule begins in July.

But he said Monday he was concerned that not getting involved now, while key issues of the nation's political future are being decided, could make any future U.N. role that much tougher.

"We all agree that it will be easier after July 1 when a provisional Iraqi government is established," he said.

"But if we get it wrong at this stage, it'll be even more difficult and we may not even get to the next stage."

Bremer said he was delighted at the response from Annan, a vocal critic of the U.S.-led war who has made little secret of his disdain for the "unilateral" invasion of Iraq.

"I think the encouraging news from today was that the secretary general agreed to consider this request very seriously," Bremer said. "We should all be encouraged."

He hope the U.N. "will return to replay a role in Iraq and we hope this happens soon."

Adnan Pachachi, IGC rotating president, said Annan would have to move quickly, citing a February deadline for writing a legal code that would largely set the stage for a future constitution.

"This is an issue that has to be resolved soon, before the end of February," he said after the meeting.