By NNN-KUNA,
Baghdad : Iraq has asked the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to extend the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) for another year as of Aug 6.
The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has sent a letter to the UN secretary-general in which he expressed the desire of the elected Iraqi constitutional government to extend the mandate of the international mission.
The minister, in his letter, expressed keenness of the Iraqi government that the support and assistance be according to certain mechanisms and with the prior approval of the Iraqi government, as indicated in a letter addressed by the minister to the UN secretary-general on Aug 6 of last year for the same purpose.
Zebari stressed that the Iraqi government was keen that the role of UNAMI could become more effective, and that the specialised agencies and programmes of the international organization exercise their work from Iraq, in light of the current tangible security.