UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council on Tuesday unanimously renewed the mandate of the US-led multinational force in Iraq through the end of 2007, granting a request from the Baghdad government.

Shi'ite Iraqi al-Mahdi army militiamen, affiliated to Shi'ite firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, parade during a memorial rally in Baghdad's impoverished district of Sadr City. The UN Security Council unanimously approved an Iraqi request for extending the mandate of the US-led multinational force in war-torn Iraq until the end of 2007 amid a flurry of diplomacy to end the bloodshed.[AFP]

US Ambassador John Bolton welcomed the vote a day ahead of planned talks in Jordan between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on how to bring violence under control and whether Iran and Syria could help.

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The vote showed all countries in the region that the Security Council strongly backed "stability in Iraq and continued progress toward democracy," Bolton said. "We all share the same objective and I think that is something the neighboring countries need to take into account."

But Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he regretted the resolution made no mention of the need to heal the deep divisions in Iraqi society, as Moscow had suggested.

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