The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the US-led multinational force in Iraq on Tuesday, saying it hopes Iraqi forces will soon be able to play a greater role and ultimately assume responsibility for their country's national security.

In a unanimously-approved statement, the council deplored the campaign of violence against civilians and Iraqi authorities, and re-emphasized earlier calls to member states to prevent the transit of terrorists into Iraq as well as the flow of arms and money to sustain them.

The council approved the statement after Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari again urged members to renew the mandate for the multinational force, saying Iraqi troops and police cannot yet defend the country against an armed insurgency by remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime and some foreigners.

"We in Iraq still face a destructive campaign of terror and violence that aims at derailing the political process and undoing the progress that has been achieved so far," Zebari said.

But he said the elections for a transitional government on Jan. 30 "sent a loud and clear message" that the Iraqi people "will not be intimidated, nor will their future be dictated by terrorists and supporters of tyranny."

Zebari urged Iraq's neighbors, especially Syria, to do more to prevent foreign extremists from crossing into Iraq, where their goal is to undermine the country's new democratic system. Council diplomats said the statement's call on member states "to assist in the security of Iraq's borders and prevent the transit of terrorists" was directed especially to Syria.

Addressing the council in English, Zebari welcomed Syria's recent statement that it had stopped more than 1,000 foreign fighters, but said it confirmed Iraq's long-held view "that Syria has been one of the main transit routes for foreign terrorists, as well as for remnants of the previous regime." He urged Damascus to do more to police its borders.

"We'll do our best," Syria's UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad told reporters afterward. "We are ready to cooperate with the present, new Iraqi government to help wherever we can."

The Iraqi minister reaffirmed the transitional government's commitment to finish writing a new constitution by Aug. 15, put it to a referendum in October, and then hold elections for a constitutionally elected government in December.

The Security Council reaffirmed its support "for a federal, democratic, pluralist and unified Iraq, in which there is full respect for human rights."

The council statement was in response to a letter Zebari sent last week asking for the multinational force to remain in Iraq.

A council resolution on June 8, 2004 authorized the force to stay in Iraq at the request of the interim government — but former interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, asked the council to review the mandate in a year, or at the request of the transitional government formed in late April following the Jan. 30 elections.

Acting US Ambassador Anne Patterson said the US-led force won't leave "until the Iraqis can meet the serious security challenges they face."

The multinational force has trained and equipped 165,000 Iraqi soldiers and police, but more needs to be done so Iraqi forces can take control of the country's security and gain the confidence of the Iraqi people, she said.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies June 1, 2005)