IRAQ URGEN UNSC TO EXTEND DFI

12/17/2009 12:05:00 AM
Iraq urges UNSC to extend DFI, IAMB mandates for one more year

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 (KUNA) -- Iraq urged the Security Council to extend until December 31st, 2010 arrangements to deposit proceeds from oil and gas sales into the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), and to supervise it during the same period by the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB), with the possibility of reviewing those arrangements, at the request of Baghdad, before mid-June 2010. The council is scheduled to discuss a draft resolution, under chapter VII, on this issue tomorrow Thursday. A vote is scheduled for next Monday.

In a letter to the Security Council President, Burkina Faso, circulated today, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki vowed that the government will in 2010 make "appropriate arrangement" for the Fund and the Board with a view to "ensuring that oil revenue continues to be used fairly and in the interest of the Iraqi people," in conformity with the Constitution and with the international "best practices with respect to transparency, accountability and integrity." That, he argued, "cannot be achieved without the continued assistance of the international community by means of the adoption of a Security Council resolution whereby the conditions and arrangements provided for in resolution 1859 of last year are extended."

Expressing his government's commitment to finding a satisfactory solution to the problem of the debts and claims that it inherited from the previous regime, Al-Maliki recalled that during 2009, the government made "great progress" in settling many debts and claims, including by concluding agreements on the reduction of sovereign debt and other bilateral agreements concerning certain claims.

Asked whether Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari is coming to New York to attend the vote in the council on Monday, Iraqi Ambassador to the UN Hamid Al-Bayati told KUNA in an interview that Zebari came in the past because the extension of those mandates "required a lot of discussions in the council. But this year, it is different. No discussions are needed. It will be a mere extension of the mandates." He did not rule out that he would come anyway. Asked whether the terrorist attacks that hit Baghdad last August, October and December will also be on his schedule, Al-Bayati said once in New York, Zibari will discuss all issues relating to Iraq.

He expressed hope that the UN will exert more effort and take further measures to deal with these attacks, recalling that the first step was when Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dispatched his Assistant for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco for preliminary talks in Baghdad.

"Unfortunately, the attacks continued after he came back and briefed the Secretary-General. Our hope is that the UN takes other steps towards helping Iraq," he said.
Asked what kind of measures he had in mind, Al-Bayati said "the UN and the Secretay-General can do a lot of things, such as setting up an investigation commission to look into the evidence gathered by Iraq," recalling the commissions the UN set up for the massacres in Guinea earlier this year and those to investigate the assassinations of former Lebanese and Pakistani Prime Ministers Rafiq Hariri and Benazir Bhutto.
"The bloodshed is unacceptable and has to stop. The Iraqi Government has the responsibility to protect its people and prevent such attacks. We feel that the UN has to do something," he said.

Once the commission finds out who the perpetrators are, the Security Council can set up a tribunal to try them, he said. (end) sj.bs KUNA 170005 Dec 09NNNN

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