UN Envoy Discusses Iraqi Sovereignty
New York, Nov 2 2009 4:10PM
A senior United Nations political official held talks today in Baghdad with Iraq’s Prime Minister and defence and national security ministers as part of his discussions with the country’s leadership on Iraq’s security and sovereignty.
Oscar
Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Political
Affairs, held consultations with Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime
Minister, as well as with other senior Government officials,
UN spokesperson Michele Montas told
reporters.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced
last week that he was dispatching Mr. Fernandez-Taranco to
Iraq following a request from the Government, days after a
double bombing in Baghdad killed around 150 people.
In
September, during his address to the high-level segment of
the General Assembly, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called
on the UN to set up an independent international commission
to investigate deadly bombings and attacks that have struck
the country since 2008, including the 19 August blasts that
killed an estimated 100 people in the capital.
Mr.
Talabani said that the scope and nature of the attacks meant
they could only have been carried out with external help and
warranted an outside investigation, as well as a special
international court to try those accused of committing the
crimes.
Last week Mr. Ban said that any probe into these attacks
requires a mandate from the UN’s 15-member Security
Council.
Iraqi lawmakers are also considering
amendments to key electoral laws over voter records in the
oil-rich, ethnically mixed region of Kirkuk in the north and
the publication of candidate lists, which threaten to delay
national elections scheduled for
January.
ENDS