Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he is sending a UN team back to Iraq in response to an Iraqi request for help in organising the political transition and elections, but that insecurity remains a constraint.

Annan, who spoke to journalists yesterday, didn't say how large a team he would send or when it would go to Baghdad.

"Obviously, security is still a constraint," he said. "We are relying on the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) and the (Iraqi) Governing Council to assure the security of the team that goes in. We are all conscious of the security conditions and we'll be very careful."

Annan said he responded positively to a letter from the Iraqi Governing Council, delivered Thursday by Iraq's UN ambassador, and that his special adviser, former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi, would lead the team.

The letter, circulated to the Security Council and released at UN headquarters, welcomed UN consultation on the formation of an interim government and assistance in preparing for elections.

Brahimi responded to a journalist's question about pressure US officials reportedly put on the Iraqi Governing Council to invite the UN's return by saying: "We are not looking for a job and we are not dying to go to Iraq."

"If the United Nations is not needed, I think that is ... perfect from our point of view," he said. "The overwhelming majority of the people of Iraq within and outside of the governing council are really demanding and pressing the United Nations to come back."

The Governing Council said Wednesday that it was asking Annan to send back a UN team to help form a government to take over from the US-led coalition on June 30.

Wednesday's letter, from current council president Mohammed Bahr Al Ulloum, a Shiite cleric, also requested technical assistance ahead of general elections due by the end of January 2005, council spokesman Hamid Al Kafaai said.

Annan received a similar letter from L. Paul Bremer, the chief US administrator in Iraq, expressing hope that the UN would respond as soon as possible.