Iraq, Britain to negotiate security deal: PM
In a handout picture released by the Iraqi Prime Minister's Office, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (L) shakes hands with Britain's Defence Minister John Hutton (R) during their meeting at Maliki's office in Baghdad yesterday. Maliki said Sunday that Baghdad and London would begin negotiating a security deal to decide the future of British forces in the country beyond 2008.Photo: AFP
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said yesterday that Baghdad and London would begin negotiating a security deal to decide the future of British forces in the country beyond 2008.
"Iraq will appoint a negotiating team to discuss the future of British forces in Iraq," Maliki said in a statement issued by his office after he met visiting British Defence Secretary John Hutton.
The statement said Maliki stressed the importance of reaching a deal between Baghdad and London before the end of this year, when the UN mandate that provides a legal framework for foreign troops in Iraq will expire.
In July British Prime Minister Gordon Brown indicated he wanted to cut the number of Britain's troop in the violence-wracked country but ruled out a timetable for their withdrawal.
Hutton, 53, who took over the defence portfolio from Des Brown just over two weeks ago, said that he had brought his team to discuss the status of forces agreement between Baghdad and London.
"We want, in the first months of next year, to see a fundamental change in our military mission in Iraq, moving towards an increased focus on military training and education as part of a broad-based bilateral partnership," Hutton said in a statement.
"We agreed to work together intensively to put in place, by the end of this year, a formal agreement in relation to the status of UK forces in Iraq which will underpin this change."
Hutton is responsible for 7,800 British soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, where they are fighting Taliban-led insurgents, and more than 4,000 troops in Iraq, deployed in one base in the southern city of Basra.
Earlier this month Maliki told a British daily that British troops are no longer necessary for the security of Iraq and should go home.
"We thank them for the role they have played, but I think that their stay is not necessary for maintaining security and control," he was quoted as saying in The Times.
"There might be a need for their experience in training and some technological issues, but as a fighting force, I don't think that is necessary."
Maliki also criticised the decision by Britain earlier this year to move its troops from a palace in Basra, which came under British responsibility after the 2003 US-led invasion, to their base at the airport.
He also criticised Britain's deal with Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, Iraq's largest Shiite militia, to stop mortar and rocket attacks.
Meanwhile, Iraq has secured the right to prosecute US soldiers and civilians for crimes committed outside their bases and when off duty, in the latest draft of a security pact that will set the terms of their deployment beyond this year.
The draft stipulates that the United States will have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction over its soldiers and civilians if they commit a crime inside their facilities or when on missions, according to a copy obtained by AFP.
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