JORDAN: A Sunni Iraqi leader, hails a proposal by U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan to hold an international conference outside of Iraq that would allow the participation of all Iraqi political parties

A Sunni Iraqi leader on Sunday (December 3) hailed a proposal by U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan to hold an international conference outside of Iraq bringing together various Iraqi political parties, saying it would raise world awareness of the plight of Iraqis, whom Annan referred to as being the grip of a civil war. Saleh al-Mutlaq, head of the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, welcomed the proposal but said all Iraqi parties should be included. "We believe that this conference is a suitable chance for the international community to be acquainted with what's happening in Iraq on the condition that the Iraqi government is one of the participating parties in this conference and all national parties are inside this conference," al-Mutlaq said at a news conference in the Jordanian capital Amman. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Sunday Iraq was in the grip of a civil war as U.S. and Iraqi forces attacked insurgent bases in a bid to shore up the authority of a government itself riven by factional rivalries. Annan proposed on Tuesday (November 28) holding an international conference on Iraq, which Baghdad's leaders have rejected. Annan said the meeting should be held outside Iraq and stressed that Iraq's neighbours, Syria and Iran, needed to be engaged. Annan also called on Iraqi leaders to come together and make compromises to solve their differences. On Saturday (December 2), Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, rejected holding the conference, saying the real solution was inside Iraq and a conference abroad would only be interference in Iraq's legitimate government. Al-Mutlaq condemned what he called voices inside Iraq and others in a neighbouring country -- in reference to Iran -- that are against holding the conference. "We hear voices inside and outside Iraq saying they reject holding such a conference. It is very strange. It is very strange that a neighbouring country interferes in the future of this country and stands against an international decision aiming to stop the shedding of Iraqi blood. And it is even stranger that a voice comes out of Iraq saying we reject an international conference that would solve the horrible crisis in Iraq," al-Mutlaq said. al-Mutlaq also criticised U.S. support for the Iraqi government, saying this support amounted to supporting the ongoing fighting inside Iraq.

ITN Source | December 4, 2006

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