New York - Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari Friday
repeated his country's position that any bilateral military
agreements with the United States should preserve his country's
sovereignty and national interests.
But speaking before the United Nations Security Council, Zebari
showed more optimism than his boss, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki,
who earlier in the day declared the US-Iraq talks about a long-term
US military presence in the country deadlocked.
Zebari was in New York to deliver a routine report to the council,
which oversees the UN mandate under which Washington continues to
lead the foreign military coalition that is providing security to the
war-torn country.
Both Zebari and US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad agreed in
their reports that progress has been made in the war against
insurgent forces, and in bringing Iraqi security forces up to speed
to handle the challenge.
The US-Iraq bilateral agreements, which officials hope to have
completed by the end of July, would allow the US to maintain long-
term military bases on Iraqi territory after the United Nations
mandate expires on December 31.
Al-Maliki said Friday in Jordan that talks with the American side
'have reached a dead end because Iraq has found that American demands
extremely violate our country's sovereignty and thus they are
unacceptable.'
The sticking points in the agreement have been the legal immunity
the US wants for its military and private security forces in the
country, and the free hand the US would like to have in fighting
Islamist terrorists, Iraqi legislators have said.
Zebari told the council that the two agreements - one would
provide the framework for long-term political and economic
cooperation, while the second, the status-of-forces agreement, would
affect only the military issue - should reflect progress in
developing Iraq's security forces.
The two agreements are to be approved by Iraq's Council of
Representatives, he noted.
Addressing an increasing number of worries about the agreements in
both countries, Zebari called for transparency in the deals and for
the respect of Iraq's sovereignty and interests.
Zebari and Khalilzad told the council that violence had dropped to
the lowest levels in the last four months as Iraq has increasingly
assumed and expanded its security responsibilities.
Khalilzad said there were no confirmed ethno-sectarian deaths in
Baghdad last month compared with the more than 1,600 such deaths in
December, 2006.
The number of civilian deaths throughout Iraq have dropped by 75
per cent since July 2007 and monthly attacks and car bombings
decreased in May this year, falling below the levels of 2006 and
2007. He said suicide bombings increased from October, 2007, to
February, 2008, but declined in March and April this year.
The US is leading a 40-nation multinational forces in Iraq, which
were authorized by the council to fight insurgency there.
'The struggle for the future of Iraq is vital for it will shape
the future of the Middle East,' Khalilzad said. 'We have seen that
tremendous progress had been made ... but the people of Iraq still
have long way to go.'
He urged Iraq's neighbours to lend support to Baghdad in achieving
its goals of ending the conflict, which started after US troops
invaded the country in March, 2003.
The multinational force is composed mostly of about 150,000 US
military personnel. Its 12-month UN mandate in Iraq is up for
renewal by the council in December unless Baghdad decides to
terminate that mandate before its expiration.
In Amman, al-Maliki said that his government was especially
opposed to Washington's insistence on ensuring the 'immunity of US
troops to trial in Iraq' and allowing them to conduct operations
without prior coordination with the Iraqi authorities.
Over the past two weeks, US officials have sought to allay Iraqi
objections, insisting that Washington is not seeking permanent bases
and that the deal would guarantee absolute Iraqi sovereignty.
USA
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