Iraqi leaders hail lifting UN sanctions against Iraq

**Shilo** Fri Dec 17, 2010 9:20 am

Iraqi leaders hail lifting UN sanctions against Iraq

PUKmedia 17-12-2010 11:07:46

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki on Thursday hailed the UN Security Council's decision to lift the Saddam-era sanctions against Iraq, which were imposed on the country in 1990.

"We have followed with relief the supporting stand of the international community to Iraq, its people, the political process and the democracy through lifting the sanctions which were imposed on Iraq due to the policies of the past dictatorial regime," Maliki said in a statement.

Maliki also said that lifting sanctions would encourage the Iraqi government to work hard to bring the country back to the international community and to open to the world.

"We consider the UN Security Council stand as a credit to the effort exerted by the Iraqi government to bring Iraq back to its normal situation among the world states," he said.

"I extend in my name, the Iraqi government and on behalf of the Iraqi people thanks and appreciation to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the governments of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, and to all who stood with the Iraqi people and their elected government in this sensitive stage in the history of Iraq," Maliki said.

For his part, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani also praised the UN stand of lifting sanctions imposed on the country.

"This decision was a clear recognition of the international community on what our people accomplished during the past seven years on the road of removing the heavy burden left behind by the regime of tyranny," Talabani said.

Late on Wednesday, the UN Security Council decided to lift Saddam-era sanctions against Iraq, after the 15-nation council unanimously voted to lift most of international sanctions imposed on Iraq after former President Saddam Hussein invaded the neighboring Kuwait in 1990.

The council expressed confidence in Iraq's commitments to nonproliferation by lifting sanctions against possessing weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles or pursuing a civilian nuclear power program.

The Security Council also adopted two other resolutions including the end to the oil-for-food program, which Ban Ki-moon said that the UN "will do its part to bring closure to this long- running, complex and unprecedented initiative."

The other resolution restricted the transfer of civilian nuclear technology to Iraq, urging the Iraqi ratification of the inspection protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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