Political leaders hopeful about reconciliation

With earlier tensions seemingly reduced, participants of a preparatory meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, for an Iraqi reconciliation conference finally reached an agreement on Monday. "There is a general atmosphere of agreement between the main political fronts," Iraqi deputy parliament speaker, Husssein Sharistani said. The conference began on Saturday and ended on Monday, and was described by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa as “the first step on the long path to achieving Iraqi reconciliation". “Participants studied preparations for an Iraqi reconciliation conference and its mechanisms for the coming stage to build the future Iraq," Moussa said as the meeting concluded. Contributors condemned terrorism, defined in the concluding statement as attacks targeting "Iraqi citizens, humanitarian, civil and governmental institutions, national wealth, and places of worship". The meeting was, however, marked by disagreement on several crucial issues. Although the concluding statement recognised resistance as a legitimate right of the people against occupiers, participants differed on their definition of resistance, a controversy that continued throughout the three-day conference. Fawzy Hariri, of the Kurdistan Alliance, said participants had recognised resistance as a legitimate right as stipulated in the UN charter, said the Iraqi insurgency did not qualify as a resistance. "My personal reading is that it is not a legitimate resistance," he said. However, Salam Malky, who attended the conference on behalf of the Shi’ia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, maintained that there was a legitimate resistance in Iraq. The issue of resistance caused much controversy throughout the event. On Sunday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani welcomed dialogue with rebels. "If those describing themselves as resistance want to contact me, they are welcome," he said in a press conference, adding that he was committed to listening to them. Yet in what appeared to be a conflict of opinion, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said any dialogue with militants had to be approved by the governing Iraqi National Council first. "All Iraqi officials are ruled by the constitution," he said in a press conference early on Monday. Signs of conflict also appeared over the issue of the presence of foreign forces on Iraqi soil. Malky emphasised the importance of setting a timetable for foreign forces to withdraw. "I have been asked by Moqtada al-Sadr to hand in a project proposal for the future of Iraq - the first point of this project was the timed withdrawal of foreign forces," he said. On the other hand, Abbas al-Bayati, of the Islamic Association of Iraqi Turkmens, said there were more important issues than putting a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces. Such issues included the building of an Iraqi armed force and ensuring security and stability in the country, he added. In the end, all participants agreed to request the withdrawal of foreign forces according to a timetable conditional on the building of an Iraqi armed force that was well trained and sufficiently equipped to protect the country, control the security situation and end terrorism. The conference's success came as a surprise, given that from the outset, tensions were visible between the different Iraqi political forces. On the opening day, Menas Ibrahim al-Yousifi of the Iraqi Christian Democratic Party described the Iraqi constitution as an “American constitution”. As a consequence, many participants walked out of the meeting, but returned after mediation by several Arab representatives. "What al-Yousifi said was a real transgression, thus leading to the crisis in the meeting," Sharistani said. He maintained, however, that the issue had been put to rest and had not hampered the proceedings. The incident had raised fears that the conference would fail, but participants who spoke to the media said the negotiations were constructive. "Meeting with all Iraqi forces has benefited us a lot and I am sure our points of disagreements will reduce," said Mohsen Abdel Hamid, a Sunni from the Iraqi Islamic Party. Participants also welcomed the Arab League's initiative to hold the reconciliation conference, due to be held early in 2006. Moussa initially won support for the reconciliation initiative from a number of Iraqi groups during his visit to Iraq in October. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also commended the Arab League for the initiative. “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.” Annan said in a statement on Monday. The 2006 conference will focus on several issues, including the unity and independence of Iraq, the security situation, citizens’ rights and duties, Iraqi debts and the reconstruction of the country. Meanwhile, procedures for building trust between the factions have been set and agreed upon. According to the final document, participants agreed to avoid the exchange of accusations, work on creating a suitable environment for the coming elections to be free and transparent, revise the situation of political detainees and release all those who have not been brought before courts. "This conference aims, within the framework of exerted efforts, to build a political process that will end the current critical situation in Iraq, which was inherited from the former regime," said Adel Abdul Mahdi, the Iraqi vice president, on Saturday.