Brahimi denies report of Iraq role

Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations Secretary-General's special representative for Afghanis-tan, scotched reports that he may be chosen as the UN-nominated ruler of Iraq in a post-Saddam Hussain era.

"This is very far-fetched and speculative. Reports such as these have no relation to the truth," he said in Kabul. No one was offering such a job and, even if there was talk of such a job, he would immediately decline it, he added.

"The Americans intend to govern a post-Saddam Iraq by themselves and they have no intentions of including anyone else," said a senior UN official in New York.

© The Telegraph Group Limited, 2003 London