New York, Sep 27 (DPA) Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has pleaded for international help in promoting reconciliation and reconstruction in his country and insisted that sectarian violence has been largely contained in Iraq.
But he also declared Iraq was ready to play an increased role on the global stage, as a mediator and meeting point to foster stability and “defuse” other conflicts throughout the Middle East.
In the first speech by an elected Iraqi leader before the UN General Assembly in New York, al-Maliki Wednesday acknowledged that Iraq still had a long way to go in quelling the insurgency and sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiite religious factions. But he said it was a problem on the fringes of his society.
“The acts of sectarian violence in Iraq are not amongst society’s components, but rather amongst extremists and fanatics,” he told the assembly. “We have been successful in containing this problem to a large degree.”
The United Nations said it planned to expand its mediating role and aid to Iraq during a meeting of foreign ministers from global powers and neighbouring countries in New York Saturday.
But UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon seemed at odds with al-Maliki’s more positive assessment of the security situation, saying Saturday that the UN would not increase its presence on the ground in Iraq until it was safe.
Al-Maliki said sectarian killings had decreased and security had been “restored” in many volatile regions of the country. He made little mention of a broader UN role but did plead for international involvement.
“Our people will always respect and appreciate the countries and governments that support the political process and participate in the process of reconstruction,” al-Maliki said.
Al-Maliki said national reconciliation was at the heart of any long-term solution to Iraq’s problems, and that his country has been managing to bring tribal factions and Sunni groups, which used to fight with Al Qaeda, back into the fold.
The US Senate Wednesday said Iraq should be split into a loose federation of sectarian-based regions and urged President George W. Bush to press Iraqi leaders to agree. Bush is likely to veto the proposal if it reaches his desk.
Al-Maliki insisted that Iraq’s factions would still be able to come together, as they had “since the dawn of history”, and called national reconciliation a realistic goal that was gaining momentum.
With those efforts progressing, al-Maliki said Iraq was ready to rejoin the international community and play a role in mediating other conflicts in the region beyond its own. Iraq’s security was inextricably linked with stability in the wider Middle East and his country could play a role in “clearing the air” and “defusing conflicts”, he said.
“Iraq has become a meeting point for dialogue among feuding regional and international entities,” he said.
Bush met al-Maliki Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN gathering of leaders in New York, their first meeting since Bush announced that 30,000 of the 160,000 US soldiers in Iraq would be out by next summer.
Opposition Democrats in the US Congress have pushed for a withdrawal timetable of more US forces from Iraq, and some have called for al-Maliki to resign for failure to rein in Shiite militias and bring more non-Shiite factions into the government.
The Iraqi prime minister made no specific mention of US troops in his country and did not weigh into the bitter debate in the US over whether those forces should stay. He did say Iraq would remember those countries that “made sacrifices and stood next to them” in bringing down Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein.