IRAQ: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pays Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki a surprise visit to discuss mounting sectarian tensions in Iraq

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew into Baghdad on Thursday (October 5) for a surprise visit to press Iraqi leaders to resolve their differences and ease raging sectarian violence that has killed thousands. But her arrival in Baghdad was delayed by 30 minutes because of "indirect fire" at the airport complex, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Her plane circled until it was deemed safe for her to land. Rice, on a Middle East tour, was due to hold talks with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who met Sunnis and fellow Shi'te majority leaders on Monday (October 2) to agree a four-point plan to try to stem mistrust between the sects and ease sectarian violence. U.S. officials have been putting pressure on Maliki to rein in militias, many tied to parties within his Shi'ite-led government, that are blamed for much of the communal bloodshed. Rice, whose last visit to Baghdad in April was credited with pressuring Iraqi leaders to form the national unity coalition under Maliki, is likely to discuss its progress -- or lack of it -- in curbing violence by rival Sunni and Shi'ite groups in Baghdad that is killing hundreds of people a week. Her visit will focus new attention on Iraq in the United States at a time when President George W. Bush's administration is on the defensive over the war in campaigning for next month's congressional elections. Bush has vowed to back Maliki if he stays on course to reconcile opposing factions. Maliki has repeatedly pledged to stamp out the militias but some critics have questioned whether his government has the political will. The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said this week that the main threat to Iraq was now from sectarian violence and that the four-month-old national unity government had just two more months to start containing it. Khalilzad, echoing U.S. generals' warnings last week, said he stuck by his view expressed after the government was formed in late May that it must, in its first six months, curb the danger of civil war.

ITN Source | October 6, 2006

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