Annan lauds Arab League meeting seeking Iraqi reconciliation, vows UN support
Praising the Arab League for holding a preparatory meeting of Iraqi factions in Cairo over the weekend to pave the way
towards national reconciliation in the strife-torn country, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today pledged continued United
Nations support for a full-blown conference to achieve the goal.
"The Secretary-General commends the League of Arab States for the holding of the Preparatory Meeting for the Conference
on Iraqi National Accord," Mr. Annan said in a statement issued by his spokesman.
"The Secretary-General is pleased that the meeting was attended by a broad range of representatives of Iraq's different
communities, who seized the opportunity to discuss national reconciliation and the future of their country," the
statement added.
"The Secretary-General has asked his Special Representative to continue to work closely with the League and with the
Iraqi Government in the preparations for the proposed Conference."
Special Representative Ashraf Qazi attended the Cairo meeting and delivered a message from Mr. Annan in which the
Secretary-General declared that regional initiatives have a "crucial role to play in nurturing broad national dialogue
and reconciliation in Iraq, in full respect of Iraq's national sovereignty, territorial integrity and political
independence."
Mr. Annan later told journalists that he had found strong support during his travels last week through the Middle East
and North Africa for the Arab League initiative.
In Iraq's capital, Baghdad, "I saw the President, the Vice President, the Acting President. I saw the Sunni parties and
spoke to all the groups and the Kurdish leaders, as well. We focused on the elections and the need for reconciliation
because I do believe that unless they reconcile and find a way for uniting, the elections will not solve the problem,
nor will military efforts solve the problem. I think that it is in this spirit that the Arab initiative is so
important," he said at an informal press encounter.
Mr. Annan said wherever he went during his trip, there was strong support for the initiative from leaders including
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah of Jordan, the Prime Minister of Kuwait
and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria and leaders in Tunisia "and I think the Iraqi parties should work with
them."
The Iraqis had complained for a long time that the Arab region and Middle East have been aloof, he said. "Now they have
come up with a proposal and I would urge them to work with them."