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International team to review Iraq results
30.12.2005
By PATRICK QUINN
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -
An international team agreed Thursday to review
Iraq's parliamentary elections, a decision lauded by
Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups who have staged
repeated protests around Iraq complaining of
widespread fraud and intimidation.
Meanwhile, The New York Times reported Friday that
American commanders are planning to boost the number
of soldiers advising Iraqi police commando units.
The report, which cited an unidentified senior
commander in Iraq, said the aim was to curtail abuse
that Iraqi units are suspected of inflicting on
Sunni Arabs.
Under the plan the number of advisers working with
the Iraqi units would be greatly expanded. The
advisers themselves would be under the command of
American officers.
Gunmen killed 12 members of an extended Shiite
family near Latifiyah, a Sunni Arab-dominated town
about 20 miles south of Baghdad. Police said the men
were taken from their homes, packed into a minivan
and shot.
The decision by the International Mission for Iraqi
Elections to send a team of assessors should help
placate opposition complaints of ballot box rigging
and mollify those groups who felt their views were
not being heard, especially among hardline Sunni
Arab parties.
"It is important that the Iraqi people have
confidence in the election results and that the
voting process, including the process for vote
counting, is free and fair,' U.S. Ambassador Zalmay
Khalilzad said.
He added that "these experts will be arriving
immediately and we are ready to assist them, if
needed."
The team was coming despite a U.N. observer's
endorsement of the Dec. 15 vote, which gave the
Shiite religious bloc a big lead in preliminary
returns. The observer, Craig Jenness, said Wednesday
that his team — which helped the Iraqi election
commission organize and oversee the poll — found the
elections to be credible and transparent.
Sunni Arabs and secular Shiites rejected Jenness'
findings, saying their concerns — which included
political assassinations before the elections — were
not addressed.
There have been about 1,500 complaints lodged
against the elections, including about 50 serious
enough to alter the results in some districts. The
overall result, however, was not expected to change.
On Thursday, the United Nations said it had
encouraged Iraq's electoral commission to get more
outside observers involved in the process, and
Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the
participation of the International Mission for Iraqi
Elections, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
"It is critical that those Iraqi groups who have
complained about the conduct of the election are
given a hearing," Dujarric said in a statement.
"This team of assessors, which was not involved in
the conduct of the elections, offers an independent
evaluation of these complaints."
The Iraqi Accordance Front, which is the country's
leading Sunni Arab group, applauded the decision, as
did the secular Iraqi National List headed by former
Shiite Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
"We are optimistic with this international response
and hope that it will find a solution for this
crisis," Accordance spokesman Thafir al-Ani told The
Associated Press.
It was unclear if the review would further delay
final results, now expected in early January.
A serious crisis involving the elections could set
back hopes for a broad-based government that would
include minority Sunni Arabs as well as secular
Shiites. Such a government could have the legitimacy
necessary to diminish the insurgency — a key part of
any U.S. military exit strategy from Iraq.
The presence of two Arab experts on the
International Mission for Iraqi Elections team could
go far in helping to convince Iraqis that the review
of the vote will be fair. The team will also consist
of a Canadian and a European.
The independent group said it helped monitor the
elections in Baghdad and was "assisted by monitors
from countries of the European Union working under
IMIE's umbrella."
The team will travel to Iraq at the invitation of
the Iraqi election commission — a pointed noted by
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"The Electoral Commission has once again
demonstrated its commitment to fair and credible
elections that meet international standards," Rice
said in a statement welcoming the invitation to the
independent team.
An official for the commission, Safwat Rashid, said
a review could "evaluate what happened during the
elections and what's going on now. We are highly
confident that we did our job properly and we have
nothing to hide."
Preliminary results from the vote have given the
governing Shiite religious bloc, the United Iraqi
Alliance, a big lead — but one which still would
require forming a coalition with other groups.
In northern Iraq, President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd,
was holding talks with Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the
cleric who heads the United Iraqi Alliance, and
other members of that religious group about forming
a coalition government.
There were no Sunni Arabs or secular Shiites at the
meeting. They said they were waiting for the results
of the investigation into their complaints.
"Whenever the results of the investigation come to
the surface, then the time will be suitable to talk
about forming the new government," Allawi told Al-Arabiya
television.
In other developments:
• In Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed a police
officer, gunmen assassinated an Iraqi driver working
with a French company, and a drive-by shooting
killed a university student.
• Al-Qaida in Iraq threatened to kill five kidnapped
employees of the Sudanese Embassy in Baghdad in two
days unless Sudan removes its diplomatic mission
from Iraq. The claim could not be immediately
confirmed.
• Gunmen kidnapped a Lebanese engineer in Iraq, the
Lebanese Foreign Ministry said. The ministry's
statement gave no other details on the disappearance
of Camile Nassif Tannous, who works for the
Schneider engineering firm.
• Iraq's largest oil refinery has suspended
operations since Dec. 24 after insurgents threatened
to kill drivers and blow up trucks that distribute
its oil products across Iraq, said Assem Jihad, a
spokesman for the oil ministry.
AP
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