Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has said that talks with the US on a long-term agreement allowing US forces to remain in Iraq have "reached an impasse".

Head of Saddam tribe killed in bomb blast ...
French FM Kouchner arrives in Iraq ... Speaking in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Mr Maliki said the American demands infringed Iraqi sovereignty.

He said negotiations continued as new proposals were being considered.

George W Bush has said he wants an agreement by the end of July. The UN mandate for US forces to be in Iraq expires at the end of 2008.

Sensitive to feelings in his own and neighbouring countries, Mr Maliki appears to be is signalling that there is a lot of work still to do, BBC Baghdad correspondent Nick Witchell says.

"We have reached an impasse, because when we opened these negotiations we did not realise that the US demands would so deeply affect Iraqi sovereignty and this is something we can never accept," Mr Maliki said.

"We cannot allow US forces to have the right to jail Iraqis or assume, alone, the responsibility of fighting against terrorism," he said.

'Heart of relationship'

Our correspondent says this disagreement goes to the very heart of the relationship between the United States and the Iraqi government.

It concerns the legitimacy of the US presence in this country, and the immensely sensitive issue of who is actually in charge here, the Americans or the Iraqis, our correspondent says, so the Americans are trying to negotiate a new Status of Forces agreement with the Iraqis.

However, the Iraqi government regards many of the American demands as infringements of Iraqi sovereignty.

The Americans want to maintain military bases and, it is reported, to keep control of Iraqi airspace.

They also want immunity from prosecution for their own forces and for US contractors, a proposal which Mr Maliki said Iraq "rejected totally".

More than five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, there are 150,000 US troops based in the country.

(BBC)

<< Back