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(Xinhua/AFP Photo)
UNITED NATIONS, June 8 (Xinhuanet) -- The United
Nations Security Council unanimously endorsed a new resolution on Tuesday to end
the US-led occupation of Iraq and hand over power to a new Iraqi government by
the end of June.
The resolution, among other things, gives Iraq
control over thecountry's security forces and spells out that the US-led troops,
which will remain in the country after June 30, will stay only at the request of
the Iraqi government.
An interim Iraqi government will assume sovereignty
from the US-led occupation on June 30, a transitional government will take
office after election by Jan. 31, 2005, and a permanent governmentwill take
office by Jan. 31, 2006, after a constitution is draftedand elections held,
according to Resolution 1546 submitted by the United States, Britain and
Romania.
The resolution authorizes the US-led multinational
force to continue to stay in Iraq after June 30. The mandate of the force
expires once a permanent Iraqi government is in place, around January 2006. But
Iraq can demand the Security Council end the mandate sooner.
It also says the US-led multinational force and Iraqi
leaders will coordinate policy issues "on sensitive offensive operations" to
ensure "full partnership" between Iraqi forces and international troops. But the
resolution stops short of giving Iraq a veto over major military operations by
the multinational force.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed the unanimous
15-0 vote for the resolution on Iraq's future.
"It is a genuine expression of the will of the
international community, led by the Security Council, to come together again
after last year's divisions and to help the Iraqi people take charge of their
own political destiny, in peace and freedom, undera sovereign government of
their choosing," Annan told reporters after the vote.
Annan urged the Iraqi people and the international
community tosupport the interim government, which will govern the country until
after the January elections.
"I also believe that the overwhelming majority of
people both inside and outside Iraq will want the interim government to have
afair chance, and will judge it on its performance," he said. "We should all
give it whatever help we can."
US President George W. Bush welcomed the unanimous
approval of the resolution, calling it "a great victory" for the Iraqi people.
"The vote today in the UN Security Council was a
great victory for the Iraqi people. It showed we stand side by side with the
Iraqi people," Bush said at a ceremony welcoming the arrival of Russian
President Vladimir Putin to attend a G-8 summit. Bush alsovoiced his gratitude
to Putin, whose country has veto power at thecouncil.
Putin, whose country has strongly opposed the US-led
war in Iraq, called the adoption of the resolution "a major step forward."
"Without any exaggeration, I would state that it is a major step forward," said
Putin.
Facing objection from France, Russia and Germany,
which demand the handover of full sovereignty to Iraq, the United States and
Britain had to revise the draft resolution four times before it finally got
approved.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is now in the
United States to attend the G-8 summit from June 8 to 10, hailed the passage of
the resolution as "an important milestone."
"This is an important milestone for the new Iraq. We
all now want to put the divisions of the past behind us and unite behind the
vision of a modern democratic and stable Iraq that can be a force for good, not
just for Iraqis but for the whole region and thus the whole world," Blair said.
The European Commission said the unanimous vote for
the resolution was "an important contribution" to effort to end the crisis in
Iraq.
"The Resolution strengthens the role of the UN as a
guarantor of the political and economic reconstruction of this country,"
Commission President Romano Prodi said in a statement issued at the G8 Summit on
Sea Island in Georgia.
On the part of Iraq, "we welcome the unanimous vote
of the Security Council and we are about to take further steps towards
reasserting our sovereignty and regaining decency," said Feisal Amin
al-Istrabadi, senior legal advisor to the foreign minister ofthe interim Iraqi
government, who represented Iraq at an open meeting of the Security Council on
Tuesday afternoon.
US Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte
said the unanimous vote was "a vivid demonstration" of broad international
support for "a federal, democratic, pluralist and unified Iraq in which there is
full respect for political and human rights."
British Ambassador Emyr Parry hailed the unanimous
adoption of the resolution as a "defining moment". "It was a crucial phase in
Iraq's transition to full democracy," Parry told the Security Council after it
voted 15-0 to adopt a new resolution endorsing the caretaker government in Iraq.
Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Wang Guangya
said the new UN Security Council resolution will usher in a historic turning
point in the Iraqi political process
He said the resolution is the result of joint efforts
of all Security Council members, who actively participated in consultations in
search for consensus in a constructive spirit andwith a pragmatic and
cooperative approach.
German Ambassador to the UN Gunter Pleuger said his
government supported the new resolution on Iraq as "an important step towardsthe
restoration of full sovereignty of the interim Iraqi government."
"Thanks to the constructive approach of the
cosponsors in the course of the negotiations, the text has been substantially
improved throughout the negotiation process," he said in a speech explaining his
"yes" vote.
Although the proposers would not give the interim
Iraqi government a veto over sensitive major military operations of the US-led
multinational force, the final text on the table gives the new government
"authority to commit Iraqi security forces to the multinational force to engage
in operations with it."
Pleuger said that after the unanimous adoption of the
resolution, "it is of crucial importance now that the resolution is implemented
in Iraq with unequivocal respect for the full sovereignty of Iraq." Enditem
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