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BAGHDAD - THE US on Thursday handed over security control of the Green Zone, symbol of the American-led occupation, to Iraq as a UN mandate for foreign troops ran out and bilateral military accords took effect.
Iraqi government and military officials hailed the return of the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad to Iraq's control, in an emotional ceremony at the former palace of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.
'It is our right to consider this day the day of sovereignty and the begining of the process of retrieving every inch of our nation's soil,' Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in an impassioned speech in a palace hall.
'The palace is the sign of Iraqi sovereignty and it is a message to all Iraqis that our sovereignty has returned,' Mr Maliki said, before declaring the day a national holiday and as the Iraqi flag was hoisted at the palace entrance.
'I ask the Council of Ministers and the Presidency Council to announce this day as a national holiday,' he said.
Under the terms of an agreement signed with Washington in November, US troops are to decamp from the nine square kilometre (3.5 square mile) Green Zone.
However, US troops will continue to play an advisory role to the Iraqi military and the new huge US embassy complex lies within the fortified zone.
The end of the UN mandate put in place on October 16, 2003, soon after the invasion in march of that year by US-led troops to topple Saddam, means Iraq will take greater control of its own security and takes a further step towards acquiring full sovereignty.
However foreign troops will remain on Iraqi soil.
The US, which has 146,000 soldiers in Iraq, signed in November an a bilateral agreement with Baghdad which allows its combat forces to remain in the country until the end of 2011.
Britain and Australia signed their own agreements to stay on in Baghdad until end of July. -- AFP
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