Zebari: SOFA agreement not likely in the current year; Obama insists there is no change in his position regarding bringing back US troops; UAE writes off $4 bn of Iraqi debts
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  • Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshayr Zebari told reporters in Baghdad on July 2 that the status of forces (SOFA) agreement being negotiated with the United States may not be reached in the current year. The agreement was earlier intended to be negotiated before July 31, well before the expiry of the UN mandate at the end of December. Zebari noted that issues like the extent of Iraqi control over American military operations and the right of American soldiers to detain suspects without the approval of Iraqi authorities continued to be stumbling blocks1. The Foreign Minister however revealed that the US had agreed to lift the immunity on foreign security contractors operating in Iraq2. The Iraqi Shia leadership on its part indicated that it would insist on a national referendum on any agreement that would be finalized3.

    Controversy also surrounded the comments of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on a possible change in his stance regarding the nature of the US troop engagement in the country. Obama had earlier stated that he would bring back American troops within 16 months of taking over the administration. Obama insisted that it would be a “strategic mistake … to continue with an open-ended occupation of the sort that John McCain has promised4.”

    In other developments, over 15 people were killed in attacks across the country, including in Baghdad and in Diyala province. The UAE on its part announced that it had written off Iraqi debts worth $4 billion after a meeting between UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the visiting Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki5.

    Meanwhile, 33 politicians from the Sunni, Shiite, Kurdish, Turkmen, Communist and other parties announced the Helsinki agreement on July 5, delineating 17 principles, including commitments to limit arms possession to the government, respect for minority rights, and opposition to international and regional influence in Iraq’s internal affairs, among other measures. The agreement, an initiative of an American Professor of conflict resolution, was hammered out in meetings held in the Finnish capital in September 2007 and in April 20086.

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