Arab League office to promote peace, reconciliation

The Arab League will open its office in Iraq in coming weeks, with a focus on reconciliation of political divisions, as violence continues heightening the threat of civil war, experts say. “We already have a team on the ground watching events in Iraq, trying to help mend differences,” said Arab League spokesman Ala’a Rushdi. “They’re specialised people using their knowledge to help promote the development and democracy of this country.” Tensions between both groups have been on the rise ever since a 22 February attack on a Shi’ite shrine in Samarra, some 125 km north of the capital, Baghdad. Hundreds of people have been killed and many others injured in continued violence. “After the disaster in Samarra, the Arab League held many meetings under the order of the [Secretary-General], Amr Moussa, and looked at finding a peaceful solution,” said Rushdi. “We’ve been meeting with important government figures from the Iraqi government, including the president, and we’re using all efforts to bring peace back to the country.” The main role of the league will be to assist on political, economic, security and humanitarian issues countrywide, according to Rushdi. The organisation was founded in 1945 in Cairo with the goal of improving the collective lot of the Arab countries, many of which were still occupied by colonial powers at the time. The Arab League currently boasts 22 member states. The final location for the league’s new Iraq office has not yet been decided, but Rushdi said it would most likely be situated in Baghdad’s fortified green zone, where the offices of government agencies and the UN are currently based. “As soon as the office is open, our work inside Iraq will be much more active,” he said. Last year, the organisation attempted to resolve the political deadlock that followed December elections. Along with hosting a reconciliation conference in Cairo in November, which included Iraqi Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa paid a visit to Iraq. While Shi’ite parties won 128 out of 275 contested seats in the national assembly, they did not win an outright majority, forcing them to form a coalition with Kurdish and Sunni minority parties. An agreement, however, has yet to be reached and a cabinet still has not been formed. Nevertheless, news of the Arab League delegation’s imminent arrival in Baghdad was met with optimism by leaders from both Sunni and Shi’ite groups. “With their close participation, there’s a good opportunity of preventing more violence and they can help reconcile Sunnis and Shi’ites,” said Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the Iraqi Accord Front, the Sunni party that won 44 assembly seats. Abbas al-Bayati, a senior official in the Shi'ite United Iraqi Alliance, was no less sanguine about the league’s prospects. “No one better than the Arab League can do this job because they understand the sectarian violence seen in the country,” he said. “We hope they’ll be able to bring peace back to Iraq.” The organisation will also participate in a follow-up reconciliation conference to be held in Baghdad in June, to be organised by the newly appointed head of the league’s Iraq office, Moroccan diplomat Mukhtar Lamani. “I’m very optimistic about Iraq’s future, because [next week] the new parliament, chosen by the Iraqi people, will be taking their seats,” Rushdi said. “We’re happy to be part of the construction of a democratic and prosperous country.”