Britain to hand over Basra airport on Jan. 1

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: British forces will hand over the Basra International Airport on January 1, 2009, the spokesman for the British forces in southern Iraq said on Wednesday. “The British forces will hand over the Basra International Airport on January 1 to the Iraqi authorities which will run the airport,” Major Bill Yong told IraqiNews.com, noting that a number of technical and administrative cadres have been trained. “The forces will also hand over their military base’s facilities to the Iraqi authorities after their withdrawal in mid 20089,” he added. The United Nations Security Council on Monday unanimously voted to extend arrangements for depositing the proceeds from sales of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas into the Development Fund for Iraq and to review all resolutions pertaining to Iraq from 1990. UN Security Council Resolution 678 was the legal authorization for the Gulf War, which was passed on 29 November 1990. It gave Iraq an opportunity to withdraw from Kuwait by 15 January 1991 and authorized UN member states in cooperation with the government of Kuwait to use “all necessary means to uphold and implement” Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which authorizes the use of force to restore peace. Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter sets forth the powers of the UN Security Council to maintain peace. It allows the council to “determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression” and to take military and non-military action to “restore international peace and security.” SH (S) 1