U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan spelled out on Friday a broad and ambitious plan for a U.N. role in Iraq and prodded Britain and the United States to quickly establish order and let Iraqis control their future.

In a report covering the first few weeks of U.N. activity in post-war Iraq, Annan stressed that restoring security and Iraqi sovereignty should be the top goals for Iraq's U.S.-British military government.

Annan sent his report to the Security Council as the U.S. death toll in Iraq surpassed that of the first Gulf War in 1991 and Washington said it was considering whether additional U.N. action was needed to convince other governments to more freely offer their help.

Annan welcomed the move by Iraq's U.S. governor, Paul Bremer, to name a Governing Council of 25 Iraqis able to appoint ministers and make policy, subject to Bremer's veto.

But he said Iraqis were lining up to tell the U.N. special representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, that quickly creating an interim government was their "central concern."

Vieira de Mello, who is also the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, had informed the military government that Iraqis must quickly be given tangible power, Annan said. "There is a pressing need to set out a clear and specific sequence of events leading to the end of military occupation."

Security was the other common thread he and Vieira de Mello found in their contacts with ordinary Iraqis, Annan said.

The people they spoke with "expressed deep concern about the precarious, some believed deteriorating, security situation, particularly in Baghdad," he said.

"One group after another presented long lists of grievances, expectations and demands on the part of the Iraqi people. Daily living conditions have not improved, at least not for those living in urban areas, and may have got worse," the report said.

Continued looting and what appeared to be the emergence of organized sabotage "pose a significant threat to the restoration of basic services. In addition, the large illegal trade in oil and fuel directly affects the access of Iraqis to these vital supplies, as well as their perception of progress in the current environment," Annan said.

UN SETS OUT MARKERS FOR ITS ROLE

Annan set out a lengthy list of tasks the U.N. intended to pursue in Iraq, ranging from economic reconstruction to delivering humanitarian aid to encouraging the development of an Iraqi press to planning for future elections.

And he said he envisaged 300 local and international staff in the U.N. operation, which he dubbed UNAMI, the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq. Vieira de Mello, who has kept a relatively low profile so far, will make his first presentation to the 15-nation Security Council on Tuesday.

The political role to be played by the United Nations in assuring a future Iraqi government would have international legitimacy has been a major controversy in the council.

Annan's report said the world body hoped to participate in preparing elections, writing a constitution, judicial reform, police training and civil service reform, among others.

While a number of governments had offered to send police officers to Iraq, Annan said this would only create "a parallel system of law enforcement" and therefore would have to be left to the United States and Britain. However, he offered U.N. experience in training Iraqi police.

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