2008 final year for US troops under UN mandate: Iraq PM
BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday that 2008 would be the final year for US-led forces in Iraq under a UN mandate which would be replaced by a new pact between Washington and Baghdad.
"The United States has promised that the multinational forces will stay under a United Nations mandate only until the end of 2008," Maliki said in a televised address.
"The final extension for the multinational forces under the UN mandate will finish in 2008."
A UN resolution passed under Chapter VII of its charter mandates the presence of international forces to maintain stability and security in Iraq on a temporary basis. The mandate has to be renewed every year.
Maliki said Iraq was not a threat to any of its neighbours as it was now a "democratic state."
"It is no longer a danger to the interests of the region. We are saying frankly that there is no justification for Iraq to stay under Chapter VII. All the justification created by the former regime is now over," he added.
Maliki also said that Iraq had reached the stage where it did not need multinational forces and that the country should be allowed to become a "normal state."
"For that reason, we have entered into discussions with the UN over our demand that Iraq be brought out of Chapter VII" of the UN Charter, he said.
"All of this needs agreement, which has been concluded. We have a cooperation agreement with the US under which they pledge to bring Iraq out of Chapter VII."
In a separate statement, Maliki said Baghdad would enter into negotiation with Washington after the end of 2007 to formulate the new bilateral pact.
"These negotiations will last until July 31, 2008. Any agreement will then be taken back to the Iraqi parliament, which will have the final word," he said.
Maliki's remarks came hours after he and US President George W. Bush had agreed to hold formal talks next year to decide the future of US forces in Iraq.
Washington hopes to complete those negotiations -- meant to institutionalise a long-term political, economic and military partnership between the United States and Iraq, by July, the White House said.
US Lieutenant General Douglas Lute said at a White House briefing that issues such as how many US soldiers would stay in Iraq and for how long, and whether there will be permanent US bases, would be decided in next year's negotiations.
"The shape and size of any long-term, or longer than 2008, US presence in Iraq will be a key matter for negotiation between the two parties, Iraq and the United States," the general said.
The new pact assumes that the UN Security Council will renew for another year its mandate for US forces to stay in Iraq, before it is replaced by a US-Iraq arrangement, Lute said. The current mandate expires on December 31.
The agreement signed on Monday also covers economic and politics ties, said Lute, who suggested that the pact could help foster elusive political reconciliation among Iraq's Sunni, Shiite and Kurd factions.
ak-jds/bpz/hc
11/26/2007 19:56 GMT
