Iraq stabilizing, but vigilance urged before 2009 elections: UN
NEW YORK (AFP) – The UN special representative in Iraq said Friday the situation in the embattled country is improving, but warned against overconfidence ahead of a series of elections in 2009.
"Across Iraq, signs of normal daily life are increasingly visible," Staffan de Mistura told the UN Security Council.
But "Iraq enters some critical months ahead," he said.
"In spite of a reduction in levels of violence, the potential for a flare-up remains a possibility in connection with the January 2009 elections."
Scheduled for January 31, Iraq's provincial election are the first in a series of elections for the legislature throughout the year.
De Mistura applauded the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq for pushing democratic processes in the country, saying that "electoral assistance has been the flagship of the activities of UNAMI.
"The government of Iraq should be commended for the progress so far achieved," he said, adding that Baghdad "will now be called to deliver services, security guarantees, conditions for free and fair elections... and to resolve tensions among its various communities."
De Mistura, a long-standing Swedish diplomat, reported on the Iraq situation to the Security Council as the Baghdad cabinet was set to decide on a pact on the future of US forces in Iraq.
Iraqi leaders have been racing to secure separate agreements with both the United States and Britain to replace the UN mandate currently governing the presence of foreign troops in the country, which expires on December 31.
For months, the US and Iraq have been wrangling over the text of the so-called Status of Forces Agreement.
Iraq is likely to approve the controversial military pact with a timetable for the withdrawal of all US troops by 2011 and for British troops to leave by the end of next year, Iraq's national security adviser told AFP in Baghdad on Friday.
Muwafaq al-Rubaie said the accord could be passed by Iraq's cabinet as early as this weekend.
"I honestly believe we have reached now a very good text.... And this text will secure the complete, full, irrevocable sovereignty of Iraq," said Rubaie, who is also Baghdad's chief negotiator on the security pact.