Baghdad, October 24: Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US envoy to the UN Susan Rice held talks in Baghdad Friday on helping Iraq get rid of sanctions imposed in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Maliki’s office said.
The pair also discussed Iraq’s campaign for a special UN investigation into the circumstances surrounding deadly truck bombs at two government ministries in August.
“The prime minister confirmed that it was necessary to let the joint US-Iraq committee work in order to find a way to get Iraq out of Chapter Seven,” his office said in an e-mailed statement, referring to the part of the UN charter under which sanctions were imposed on Iraq.
Earlier this month, after meeting with Maliki in Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton indicated that the United States and Iraq were to establish a joint committee to discuss problems related to the sanctions.
The statement added: “Susan Rice … renewed the US’s commitment to help get Iraq out of Chapter Seven.”
Baghdad has repeatedly called on the UN Security Council to accept that it no longer poses a threat to international security.
Kuwait insists there should be no change until Iraq has fully complied with resolutions on reparations, the return of property, the demarcation of the border and the repatriation of the remains of prisoners of war.
Maliki also “renewed Iraqi efforts calling on the UN to appoint a special investigator over the Bloody Wednesday attacks” on August 19, when two truck bombs at the foreign and finance ministries killed around 100 people.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said this month that the UN Security Council would appoint an investigator in response to a call by Iraq for an independent probe into the bombings.
Baghdad has accused neighbouring Syria of harbouring the masterminds behind the attacks, and Maliki alleges that 90 percent of foreign militants who infiltrate Iraq do so via Syria.
–Agencies