CAIRO, 14 October 2005 — Arab League chief Amr Mussa is to travel to Iraq next week to prepare for a reconciliation conference with different ethnic and religious groups, an official at the pan-Arab body said yesterday.
“The proposed date for the secretary general’s trip to Baghdad is Monday or Tuesday,” the official said, indicating Mussa’s visit will take place after the constitutional vote on Saturday, which has spurred days of heightened security measures.
The diplomat added that Mussa will spend two days in Iraq, meeting with Iraqi leaders and members of various ethnic and religious groups in an effort to sound out their views on the war-torn country’s political process.
The Arab League sent an advance team of officials to Iraq last week and Mussa’s visit had originally been billed as a bid to iron out sectarian differences ahead of the Oct. 15 referendum on the constitution.
Iraq’s Sunni Arabs have voiced strong opposition to federal provisions in the constitution, fearing it could lead to the break-up of the country and leave control of the vast oil wealth in the hands of Shiites and Kurds.
Gunmen ambushed Arab League diplomats in Baghdad on Monday amid sharp criticism of the pan-Arab grouping over its lack of involvement in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion.
The envoys were unharmed in the attack, but two police commandos protecting the convoy were injured in a hail of fire from anti-tank rockets and machine-guns.
Mussa said on Tuesday that he still planned to make the trip despite the attack.
