Iraq UN envoy stays in New York

Iraq UN envoy stays in New York

Al-Douri said he hoped peace would prevail

The Iraqi ambassador to the UN was due to meet Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday, despite earlier reports that he had been booked on an overnight flight to Paris.

The AFP news agency quoted an official at Charles de Gaulle airport saying that Mohammed al-Douri had booked places on flights from New York to Paris, and from Paris to Damascus, but had failed to take them up.

His meeting with Mr Annan was due to start at 1115 (1515 GMT).

As Mr Annan arrived at UN headquarters on Thursday, he said Mr Douri had not asked for "asylum or protection" when they met earlier in the week.

Mr Douri was the first Iraqi official to comment on the fall of Baghdad, telling reporters on Wednesday: "The game is over."

"We hope that peace will prevail and that's all that we hope."

Asked what he meant by "the game is over", he responded, "the war".

It was the first admission from any Iraqi Government official that coalition forces have largely overwhelmed Iraqi resistance.

The ambassador, who seemed tense and upset, said he could not comment on the situation of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein because he had no "relationship with Saddam".

Wednesday's TV images suggested Baghdad resistance had collapsed

"I have no communication with Iraq," Mr Douri said. Earlier, he told Associated Press Television News he had been unable to contact any government officials "for a long time".

When asked what he thought about the scenes being broadcast from Baghdad, he said: "Well I don't know really, I watch the television like you."

Mr Douri used Security Council meetings in the run-up to war to make impassioned pleas to the international community to block invasion.

He accused the US of ulterior motives in attacking Iraq.

"My work now is peace," he told reporters on Wednesday.

Bush echo

Asked about the ambassador's comments, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said "it wasn't a game".

But Mr Douri's choice of words mirrors those used by US President George W Bush, who warned Iraq on 6 February that it was wasting its last chance to avoid war.

"The game is over," Mr Bush said then.