¡¡¡¡UNITED NATIONS, May 9 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States, Britain, together with cosponsor Spain, put forward a draft resolution Friday that virtually asked the United Nations Security Council to legitimize their occupation of Iraq and sought permission to use its oil revenue to build the war-torn country.

¡¡¡¡On behalf of the three cosponsors, US Ambassador to the UN John Negroponte introduced the eight-page resolution to the council, which envisions the United States and Britain running the country as "occupying powers" for at least one year.

¡¡¡¡The resolution also calls for shifting control over Iraq's vastoil revenues from the United Nations to the United States and its allies, saying the money would finance the country's reconstruction under the supervision of the international community.

¡¡¡¡It envisions a limited and primarily advisory role for the United Nations, asking UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to appoint a UN coordinator to work with the US and British authorities to handle humanitarian aid, human rights and legal and judicial reform issues.

¡¡¡¡While they did not expect tough diplomatic rows similar to those during the weeks before the Iraqi war, observers here said negotiations over details of the resolution could be tough, in view of the differences between the two sides over some of the major issues.

¡¡¡¡Many council members expressed strong reservation over the UN'srole in Iraq, arguing the resolution failed to enable the United Nations to play the "vital role" that US and British top leaders had promised the world body.

¡¡¡¡French Ambassador to the UN Jean-Marc de la Sabliere insisted the role of the UN coordinator should be enhanced, especially in the political field and the Security Council should be able to monitor the political process in Iraq.

¡¡¡¡His German counterpart Gunter Pleuger asked for clarification on the relations between the UN coordinator and the Iraqi interim authorities and a clear-cut definition of its responsibilities.

¡¡¡¡Council members also have reservations over how the revenue from oil should be used. Earlier, Russia proposed that UN chief Annan maintain control over the oil money until a legitimate Iraqigovernment is formed, and French UN envoy Sabliere asked for transparency on oil sales in Iraq.

¡¡¡¡US Ambassador Negroponte said the initial reactions to the resolution were "quite constructive," saying that some delegationsdescribed the resolution as "forward-looking" without rehashing the argument of the past.

¡¡¡¡But he noted council members had raised many questions concerning the complicated legal and technical issues, which focused on the role of the UN and the phase-out of the oil-for-food program.

¡¡¡¡The Security Council had decided to convene an expert meeting next Monday to address many of the remaining issues raised by the council members and the council would meet at the ambassadorial level Wednesday.

¡¡¡¡Some council members, however, were cautious about the outcome of the discussions, as German UN envoy Pleuger put it: "We approach the problems in a pragmatic and constructive way. Whethersome of the stipulations in the resolution meet the requirement ofthe reality on the ground, we have to see." Enditem