By Mark Turner and Roula Khalaf
Financial Times, 16 March 2006
The UN is appealing to Iraq’s neighbours to play a more constructive role in averting a worsening of sectarian violence through the establishment of a new “contact group“ of regional powers.
“Iraq’s stability is intrinsically linked to the stability in the region and vice versa,” Ashraf Qazi, the UN special representative for Iraq, told the Security Council this week.
“As a concrete step to increase regional engagement, I have proposed the establishment of a regional contact group that would bring together Iraq’s regional neighbours to discuss how to improve stability in Iraq.”
UN officials insist discussions are at an early stage, but say they would like the group to meet in Baghdad, on a regular basis, at a working level. Mr Qazi is holding a series of meetings to drum up support for the idea, and intends to press his case on 28 March when the Arab League meets in Khartoum.
The group could comprise Iraq’s direct neighbours, plus possibly Egypt and the Arab league, and may try to agree some principles such as non-interference, officials said. Its Baghdad location could encourage countries to raise their diplomatic representation in Iraq.
Bringing together Iraq’s neighbours around a common strategy is crucial at a time when the country appears to be sliding into all-out civil war and the conflict between Iraq’s Sunni and Shia Muslims risks exacerbating tensions between the two communities elsewhere in the Middle East.
Arab governments have been more outspoken in expressing concerns over Iran’s influence in Iraq and have encouraged the Cairo-based Arab League to take a more active role in mediating between Iraqi political factions.
Arab officials say the idea of a contact group has been recently floated as the US and UK look to share the burden of Iraq in the face of spiralling violence and deadlock in the political process. But this more direct handling of Iraq - foreign ministers from the region alreadly regularly meet to discuss Iraq - would need the approval of a new Iraqi government and would depend on the exact role of the contact group.
The Iraqi parliament met on Thursday for the first time since the December elections but the meeting was ceremonial and did nothing to defuse the crisis over the formation of the government.
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Citation: Mark Turner and Roula Khalaf. "UN appeals to Iraq’s neighbours over violence," Financial Times, 16 March 2006.
Original URL: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/2825fcf2-b527-11da-aa90-0000779e2340.html
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