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In preparation for an
Iraqi national-accord conference scheduled for June
22, Arab League Assistant Secretary General Ahmad
Ben Hilli travelled to Baghdad Tuesday to meet with
Iraq's religious and political factions.
Ben Hilli planned to meet the Association of Muslim
Scholars, who had announced on Monday that they
would not participate in the conference, accusing
Iraqi politicians of not being willing to defuse the
current crises in Iraq.
A prominent leader of the Sunni group, Mohammed
Bashar al-Faydi, expressed scepticism regarding the
conference, adding that his group would pullout of
talks unless politicians stuck to the November 2005
agreement reached by Iraqi factions in Cairo.
Al-Faydi said that politicians had "shirked carrying
out" any of the provisions of that agreement.
"What is the aim of the reconciliation conference?
Is it to pull Iraq out of its crisis or to support
Iraqi politicians?" al-Faydi said.
"What will happen in the Baghdad (conference) will
be the same thing because the faces have not
changed, and if we reach an agreement, they will
abandon it after days," he said.
Other members of the association expressed concern
regarding the Iraqi government's ability to control
the escalating acts of sectarian violence.
Meanwhile, in its Tuesday issue, the London-based
al-Sharq al- Awsat Arabic newspaper interviewed the
president of the Kurdish region of Iraq, Mahmoud
Barzani, regarding plans to host the conference
there.
"Representatives from the Arab League visited me and
spoke of the conference scheduled to be held in
Baghdad and the associated concerns regarding the
security situation, so I expressed my willingness to
hold the conference in the Kurdistan Region if need
be," Barzani said.
"However, ... if they are not willing or able to
make it to Baghdad, how will they be able to make it
to Erbil?" he asked.
Speaking of the relatively stable security
conditions in the Kurdistan region, Barzani said,
"The secret of our success is that we have overcome
the cycle of vengeance, we have liberated ourselves
from the culture of retribution."
"Our brethren in the rest of Iraq have not taken the
same approach, instead they have adopted the culture
of vengeance," Barzani said.
DPA
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