By Xinhua,
Baghdad : Washington has informed Baghdad of a tentative approval by the UN Security Council (UNSC) to release Iraq from the Chapter VII of the UN Charter that recognizes its tutelage, Iraq’s state-run al-Sabah newspaper reported Saturday
Visiting U.S. envoy to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad informed top Iraqi officials the approval of most UNSC members, an Iraqi parliament member who declined to be named was quoted as saying.
The tentative approval came after Iraq recently signed a security pact and an agreement on strategic framework cooperation with the U.S.
Khalilzad confirmed that he will exert his efforts through discussions with his counterparts in the United Nations to get the approval of all the permanent members in the UNSC which comprises China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States, according tothe report.
Chapter VII of the UN Charter empowers the UNSC members to maintain peace. It allows the council to “determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression,” and to take military and nonmilitary action to “restore international peace and security.”
Iraqi Presidency Council, which comprises President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies, ratified Thursday the security deal with the United States, which was endorsed by the Iraqi parliament on Nov. 27.
Under the agreement, the American troops will pull out of Iraqi cities and towns by July 2009 and leave Iraq by the end of 2011.