UNITED NATIONS, 23 September 2007 — Iraq and its neighbors were to join major powers and donors in UN-sponsored talks here yesterday to speed up efforts to rebuild the war-scarred country despite sectarian violence and rampant corruption. UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki were to co-chair the two-hour session.
Key issues up for discussion will include bolstering the UN presence in Iraq and reviewing a five-year plan to stabilize the country on the political, economic and security fronts. Organizers said the aim was to build on the momentum generated at the international conference on Iraq in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh last May.
The meeting follows warnings from US President George W. Bush last week that the US involvement in Iraq will last beyond his presidency, which ends in January 2009, although if progress on the ground continues the 169,000 US troops there could gradually be scaled back.
The talks also come in the wake of a damning report on Iraqi corruption by the US Embassy in Baghdad that painted a grim picture of graft in all government departments. But the White House said Friday that Maliki was “working hard” to fight corruption but declined to say whether he had been “adequately successful.” On the meeting agenda are “challenges and opportunities” in implementing UN Security Council resolution 1770 adopted last month, as well as support for the Baghdad government’s efforts to curb sectarian strife through an inclusive political dialogue and national reconciliation.
Ban told a press conference Tuesday that he planned to discuss with Maliki “how to strengthen the UN role” in Iraq and review the “International Compact (ICI),” the five-year rescue plan adopted last May in Sharm El-Sheikh. The ICI is a joint initiative by the United Nations, the World Bank and Baghdad.
Meanwhile, an Al-Qaeda front group claimed yesterday to have “executed” five captured Iraqi soldiers, and posted a short video on the Internet allegedly showing their killing.
The video, entitled “Execution of a Divine Judgment,” purports to have been made by the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq and was distributed to a number of websites used by Islamist groups.
It showed five uniformed men, blindfolded and hands tied behind their backs, kneeling as they were shot with pistols from behind by hooded executioners. The video, whose authenticity could not be established, claimed that this was “an example of the failure of the so-called Operation Arrowhead Ripper.”
Eleven Iraqi suspects have been arrested for involvement in the killing of a Sunni Arab tribal leader who helped push Al-Qaeda fighters from much of Anbar province, his brother said in Ramadi.
Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, head of the Anbar Salvation Council alliance of Sunni tribes opposed to Al-Qaeda, was killed in a Sept. 13 bomb attack shortly after a public meeting with US President George W. Bush.
