SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, 4 May 2007 — A key international conference on Iraq security yesterday overwhelmingly adopted a five-year plan aimed at rescuing the war-ravaged country from chaos and bankruptcy.
But the wide-ranging commitment to the so-called “International Compact” at the Egyptian resort was overshadowed by rare meetings between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Syria and Iran foreign ministers.
Rice said she raised the issue of foreign fighters entering Iraq from Syria in talks with Syria’s foreign minister yesterday, the first high-level meeting in years between the two countries.
Rice described her half hour of talks with Syria’s Walid Muallem as “professional” and “businesslike.” Before that Rice had a brief exchange with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki over lunch, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said. “There was an exchange of some words, yes. They are civilized people after all,” said Abul Gheit.
“There was an opportunity to talk about the problem of foreign fighters — a major source of the suicide bombings. I thought it was a good opportunity to talk to the foreign minister about it,” Rice told reporters after the meeting with Muallem. “I didn’t lecture him and he didn’t lecture me,” Rice said.
The top US diplomat said she was not seeking a similar meeting with Iran’s foreign minister. Despite yesterday’s brief encounter being empty of political substance, it was believed to reflect a new willingness on the part of Washington and Tehran to engage in some form of dialogue.
Meanwhile. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said the Kingdom has been watching the deteriorating situation in Iraq with deep concern. He said: “Strengthening the pillars of Iraq’s security and stability requires uprooting violence and terrorism besides the revival of the state’s institutions.”
Prince Saud affirmed the Kingdom’s commitment to provide $1 billion to aid Iraq’s reconstruction. The Saudi Development Fund has been making contacts with the Iraqi officials in this respect. The Kingdom is willing to ease the repayment of debts by Iraq in view of the difficult time it is passing through currently, the prince said. “Saudi Arabia will tackle the issue of debts in line with the principles agreed on at Paris International Club,” the prince said.
The Saudi private sector has shown readiness to participate in the reconstruction of Iraq in concert with other countries as and when the suitable circumstances arise, the prince added. The prince underlined the importance of extricating Iraq from its turmoil so that it enables to preserve its unity, independence and sovereignty.
“Saudi Arabia has been maintaining its stand of keeping equal distance from all Iraqis with no discrimination or differentiation among them, irrespective of their religious and ethnic differences, and it has been adhering to the principle of nonintervention in its domestic affairs. We want the same policy from all others particularly its neighboring countries,” he said. The prince assured that Saudi Arabia would continue to extend humanitarian assistance to Iraq, Saudi Press Agency reported.
“The resolution to support Iraq and to pull it out of its crisis has been adopted by acclamation by all the participants,” the United Nations’ pointman in Iraq Ashraf Qazi said, after the initiative was approved by consensus.
Foreign ministers and top diplomats from more than 50 countries were gathered here to launch the International Compact with Iraq (ICI). “The main aim of the International Compact is to rebuild a unified, democratic and federal Iraq and to distribute its wealth fairly,” Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki told delegates in opening remarks. The document includes a raft of measures to give fresh impetus to Iraq’s economy, improve governance and offer financial assistance, in a process key players hope will bolster reconciliation between warring communities.
It includes new laws on oil revenue sharing and on the return to public life of members of the late Saddam Hussein’s regime. “We call on all participating countries to cancel Iraq’s debt in order to allow it to begin the building and development and to fix the destroyed infrastructure,” Maliki said.
Attending the conference, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett pledged $200 million worth of reconstruction, stressing the role of Iraq’s neighbors in reducing violence and encouraging reconciliation.
Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabor said the three Eastern European countries — Slovenia, Bulgaria and Poland — would agree to forgive 80 percent of Iraqi debt but did not say how much that would be. He said the European Union would grant Iraq $200 million, and he expected grants from some Asian countries as well.
“They will help us and in return Iraq will have to commit to finding real national reconciliation,” Jabor said. He also said that Iraq had rejected as unacceptable an offer from Russia to forgive the debt it is owed by Baghdad in return for access to a major Iraqi oilfield. “The Russians are hesitant. They want investment in the Rumaila oilfield in return for eliminating the debt,” he said.
Today’s meetings are expected to bring together Iraq’s neighbors in a bid to step up cooperation on security issues, such as cross-border smuggling of weapons and militants. Rice said the talks (with Muallem) were limited to Iraqi security and didn’t get into other disputes. “I made it clear we don’t want to have a difficult relationship with Syria. But we need to have some basis for a better relationship.”
Syria’s official news agency SANA said Rice and Muallem discussed “the situation in Iraq and the need to achieve security and stability in that country” and the need to develop US-Syrian ties “in a way that serves the achievement of peace, security and stability in the region.”
Beckett too met her Iranian counterpart Mottaki yesterday on the sidelines of a conference on Iraq. The meeting comes a month after Iran detained 15 British naval personnel for two weeks, threatening to spark a major crisis amid the West’s standoff with the Islamic republic over its nuclear program.
“It’s the first time I am meeting Mottaki,” Beckett said in a brief statement to reporters after the half-hour meeting. “We had useful discussions which culminated simply in mutual recognition that there is scope for a better relationship between Iran and the United Kingdom,” she added.
When asked if the meeting meant Britain and Iran were seeking to put the sailors crisis behind them, the official objected: “We are going to tell them that it is not just something we got over.” Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official also said Beckett and Mottaki were likely to discuss Iraq’s security. “We are aware that techniques and arms are coming from elements within Iran,” he said. “These elements are supplying arms that have been used against our people in Iraq.”
Iran too pledged to help end the bitter communal strife that has torn the country apart. “Under the present circumstances, the best way we can assist the government and people of Iraq is to help them restore security, stability and national solidarity and to prevent actions that will lead to a further escalation of sectarian violence and internal dissension,” Mottaki said.
