By Mohammad Al-Ghazzi, NNN-KUNA
Baghdad : Five Iraqi leaders have signed here a document on activation of political partnership and national reconciliation.
The leaders are President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Shi’ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, Shi’ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Masoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.
In a brief news conference after their meeting on the ongoing political, economic and security crises in Iraq held at Talabani’s house Sunday evening, the Iraqi president said the five leaders signed a final communique on the deBaathification act and other key issues.
Asserting support for the document, Al-Hashemi denied reports that his Islamic Party of Iraq has joined the four-party accord.
Al-Maliki said the four-party accord, grouping the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Islamic Al-Dawa Party and the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, targeted no other political force in the country.
It is rather a reflection of consensus among forces that have worked together to topple the former regime, the prime minister noted.
The accord is a first step on the way to accelerate the political partnership and stabilization process.
The final communique is aimed at cementing ties among the five parties, improve the government’s performance, facilitate the endorsement of the necessary legislation, and streamline cabinet actions within the framework of the constitution, he added.
The document envisages also the release of detainees who were arrested by mistake and pardoning eligible detainees.
It calls for the involvement of representatives of political forces and relevant organisations in the process of solving the issue of detainees.
It also calls for empowering and equipping the Iraqi armed forces, lifting arms controls affecting them, ensuring more effective cooperation with the Multinational Forces in the combat against terrorism.
The document approved the draft law on accountability and justice worked out by the Supreme National Organisation to supersede deBaathification act. It also approved the governorates act and municipal election act.
In the document, the five Iraqi leaders expressed desire to link the extension of the UN Security Council resolution 1723 with the termination of the UNSC resolution 661 for 1990 which subjected Iraq to Chapter VII of the UN Charter. They seek to restore the normal legal status of Iraq as a sovereign state.
The Iraqi leaders voiced hope for building long-term relations with the United States and other countries of the world on the basis of common interests and mutual benefit in all fields.