It is the "best interest" of member countries to take part in the process, Senator Richard Lugar said.

There will be a need for UN resolutions concerning "the international legitimacy of various things, including the currency and probably the management of some resources," said Lugar, a Republican from Indiana.

He said however that a UN role "ultimately depends upon whether the Security Council is prepared to do this . . . as opposed to the UN really deciding that it wants to come into a constructive role in this.

"I would hope that the latter would be the case," he added.

Lugar expressed some annoyance at the role played so far by the international body -- particularly members like France and Germany which strongly opposed the US-led in Iraq war, but now want a significant role shaping the country's post-war fate.

Lugar refered to a Security Council resolution adopted last week giving the United Nations control for 45 days over the humanitarian side of the UN program using Iraq's oil revenues for food and medical supplies.

"We had a struggle just getting a 45-day resolution on the food for oil, and this is a rather minimal humanitarian thing," he said.

"It's pragmatically important to those countries and their interests to be participants," Lugar added.

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