Back To The Future.(The Last Word; Staffan de Mistura)(Interview)

Byline: Rod Nordland and Larry Kaplow

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. Secretary-General's new special representative in Iraq, has been a troubleshooter in 19 conflicts worldwide. The United Nations all but withdrew from Iraq in 2004, after a suicide bomber killed envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others at its compound. The Italian-Swedish diplomat is the first new U.N. envoy since the Security Council passed Resolution 1770, allowing his agency to work on reconstruction and advise the Iraqi government. De Mistura sat down with NEWSWEEK's Rod Nordland and Larry Kaplow in Baghdad.

Newsweek: You were last here just after the Samarra shrine bombing set off sectarian warfare. How does it seem now?

De Mistura: I did notice that there has been some change for the better, and also some very strong worries. There is a perception compared to two or three months ago that things have been improving. Now, there are still 90 incidents per day [in Baghdad]. There used to be 300. We have to be realistic: improving from 300 to 90 is good, but 90 is a lot -- So the feeling I get is one that there has been a change, but the change is fragile -- quite fragile, because we need now to altogether capitalize on it, and particularly the Iraqis have to. There is a window of opportunity, which needs not to be missed. And that's where I think the U.N. role can be helpful, and the new U.N. resolution, which gives a new, larger, broader mandate, can help. If we don't see any progress among the Iraqis regarding their own internal dialogue, which means addressing some of the issues which are not being addressed -- the electoral law, the constitutional issues -- the oil sharing, the provincial borders and the way that those who are returning have been handled and supported -- then we will have missed a big opportunity.

And nothing has been done on any of those issues you mentioned, to speak of.

Correct. But there are a lot of discussions about it and this is already good news to me because if they are discussing, we can contribute as honest brokers. At the end of the day it is really up to them.

Now that the U.N. has an expanded mandate, is it going to expand in size and operate more from Iraq instead of from Jordan?