Moscow, May 17: Troops from Arab nations will
probably be included in a multinational force to ensure
security in Iraq after sovereignty is handed back to local
authorities on June 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
said today.
"I think it will be a question of a multinational
force in which soldiers from America and the other nations of
the coalition will remain," he said.
"They will probably be joined by contingents from
other countries, notably Arab nations," the Interfax news
agency quoted the minister as saying.
Lavrov, returning from a trip to Washington where he
took part in a G8 industrialised nations ministers' meeting,
said he expected those nations to decide when the details of
the international force's mandate were known.
The post-June 30 multilateral force in Iraq,
authorised by the UN, will be under US command.
Bureau Report
