DAMASCUS, 2 November 2003 — Foreign ministers of Iraq’s neighbors began arriving here yesterday for a regional meeting on the country’s growing instability, but in Baghdad Hoshyar Zebari said he would boycott the talks. “The way the invitation has been extended was not in keeping with Iraq’s dignity,” interim Iraqi foreign minister, Zebari, told a press conference.
Syria had called the meeting of top diplomats from Iraq’s neighbors to discuss the impact of the violence there on the region’s stability, but had initially failed to invite Zebari because of its continued misgivings about the legitimacy of his US-installed administration.
Following a boycott threat by Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Syria agreed to an 11th hour compromise whereby Zebari would take part in the formal talks but not in a brief informal preliminary meeting. Although the move was welcomed by Jordan and Egypt, it was clearly not enough for the Iraqi minister.
“In the absence of a frank and clear invitation from the Syrian government for Iraq to participate in the Damascus meeting, it is impossible to take part,” Zebari said.
“We do not accept any recommendations or decisions that come out of this meeting without Iraq’s participation,” he added.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher had told AFP before his departure from Amman for the talks that: “We believe Iraq ought to be represented at any meeting dealing with the country.
“We are in favor of any cooperation with the interim Governing Council that might lead to a rapprochement between Arab states and Iraq, and help put an end to the occupation of the country and improve its internal situation.”
Moasher said it would have been perverse to have denied Zebari a seat in yesterday’s talks given that Arab ministers had already admitted him to an Arab League meeting in Cairo in September.
His views were echoed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, who told journalists that Baghdad’s participation would have been “normal”.
“It is normal for an Iraqi delegation to take part in the Damascus meeting, particularly as the interim Governing Council attended meetings of the Arab League, the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference,” he said before flying to Damascus.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was the first to arrive in the Syrian capital yesterday, ahead of the top-level talks on the regional implications of continued instability in war-wracked Iraq.
Zebari was initially set to join the talks amid calls from the Governing Council for tougher action to stem an influx of foreign militants into Iraq.
A spokesman for the council said that he would press the seven ministers to do more to stop such infiltrations, which Washington holds responsible for the persistent violence still plaguing Iraq.
“We are asking neighbors to help us curb border infiltration and hand us information on all persons who infiltrate into Iraq,” Hamid Al-Kifai told AFP. “The issue of terrorism remains a priority.”
The past week has seen the worst bloodshed since US troops entered Baghdad in April, with a wave of car-bombings in the Iraqi capital prompting a host of foreign missions to withdraw or downscale their staff, undermining the postwar reconstruction effort.
