Iraqi prime minister meets with UN chief on post-war efforts

Jul 22, 2009, 17:40 GMT

New York - Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held talks on Wednesday on efforts to restore Iraq's international standing as it has emerged from years of conflict.

One demand by Baghdad has been that it is no longer be considered a threat to international peace and security, a condition cited by the UN Security council since the early 1990s when it allowed the military intervention after Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait. The United States led a multinational force to repel the Iraqis from Kuwait.

In the current conflict in Iraq, The US is leading a multinational force to help the Baghdad government fight insurgent forces. The deployment of international troops on Iraqi soil was authorized by the council which invoked Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. Chapter 7 allows use of force to implement UN mandates.

Since the 1990s, the council has adopted a series of resolutions dealing with the conflict there and those resolutions are subject to periodic review.

UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said al-Maliki and Ban discussed the review process. She said Ban informed al-Maliki that the actual review process is underway and a report should be issued 'shortly.'

The council adopted a resolution in 2008 extending the mandate of the US-led multinational force in Iraq for 12-months, ending in December, 2009. Baghdad has insisted that the extension would be the last one.

The council said resolutions related to Iraq should be reviewed, beginning with the first one in 1990 dealing with the invasion of Kuwait, in order to allow Iraq 'to achieve international standing equal to that which it held prior to the adoption of such resolutions.'

The Obama administration in the meantime has decided to a gradual withdrawal of US military troops while Iraqi authorities take over various talks about providing security to the nation.