The 15-member UN security council yesterday unanimously adopted a resolution authorising the UN to return to Iraq almost four years to the day that it pulled out most of its staff after a deadly car bomb that killed its envoy.

The resolution, co-sponsored by the US and Britain, will provide a fig-leaf, if needed, to cover a withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq in the coming months, and pick up the pieces afterwards. But the US and Britain deny any such intention.

UN staff were abruptly evacuated from Iraq after the killing of senior representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other people in August 2003. The attack had a traumatic effect on the or-ganisation’s staff, which remains concerned about security problems in the nation.

The UN’s return is so controversial that its staff association called on the UN secretary-general, Ban ki-Moon, on Tuesday to withdraw the 35 international employees who are still operating in Iraq and not to deploy any more.

But the secretary-general has promised President George Bush to raise the number of UN staff to 95 by October.

The resolution provides for the UN to “advise, support and assist the government and people of Iraq on advancing their inclusive, political dialogue and national reconciliation”.

It also authorises the UN to marshal regional and international support for Iraq, by facilitating regional dialogue, including on issues of border security, energy and refugees.

The organisation is asked to help facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and the return of the two million refugees who have fled the country for Syria and Jordan. The American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, expressed the hope that the resolution – backed by countries such as Russia and France which were opposed to the 2003 invasion – would be “a springboard to greater international support for Iraq’s government and people”.

The resolution has been adopted at a time when Mr Bush is under mounting political pressure to agree to a timetable to withdraw US troops, as his much-heralded “surge” of 20,000 additional soldiers has failed to gain control of Baghdad.

British forces in Basra are also facing increased attacks from Shia militias amid local expectations that Gordon Brown will withdraw the remaining 5,000 troops in southern Iraq.

Britain’s ambassador to the UN, Sir Emyr Jones Parry, expressed understanding for the UN security concerns, noting that there were plans for a secure facility to be built in the Iraqi capital.

There are doubts over how effective the UN can be in Iraq, given that the US ignored advice from Mr Vieira de Mello.

A senior UN official said: “They particularly turned a deaf ear over human rights, after he helped put together the governing council.”

The official added that although the organisation was reluctant to return, “we should-n’t shy away from our responsibilities to help people in need”.

One of the advantages for the UN is that its future envoy – widely expected to be Swedish national Staffan De Mistura, a diplomat with Iraq experience – should be able to facilitate dialogue between rival factions more easily than the US.

Diplomatic targets

7 August 2003

A truck bomb destroys the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, killing 17 people. It is the first car bomb used by insurgents in the Iraq conflict

19 August 2003

The UN special representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, pictured, is among 22 people killed when a truck loaded with explosives crashes into the UN compound in Baghdad. UN evacuates most of its foreign staff.

28 October 2003

A truck bomb kills 12 people in an attack on the Baghdad HQ of the International Committee of the Red Cross which cuts back its foreign staff in Iraq as a result.