JEDDAH/PARIS, 27 October 2004 — France’s attempts at creating a coalition of Iraqis opposed to the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi collapsed yesterday as Paris announced it had abandoned its opposition to an international conference to be held on the future of the newly-liberated country.
“We are no longer asking that non-governmental groups be invited,” French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said. “We have agreed with Egypt that this should be an intergovernmental affair.”
The conference, scheduled to take place Nov. 22-23 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh is part of a US-sponsored plan to mobilize international support for stabilization and reconstruction in Iraq.
“It’s an intergovernmental conference. I’m willing to recognize that only governments will participate,” Barnier told reporters after an informal meeting with European and North African counterparts.
Hours earlier, Barnier had said France wanted to include Iraqi political groups not linked to the government, telling LCI television that they should be included “so that this conference will be useful.”
US and Iraqi officials said last week that Iraq’s delegation would only include members of the US-backed interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi — and its opponents would not be welcome.
Initially, Washington had asked for the conference to be held in October. France opposed that and proposed a November date to deny President George W. Bush any chance of using the conference in his re-election bid.
Next, France and US were at loggerheads about who should attend the conference. Washington insisted that only governments should be invited. Paris, however, wanted what it calls “Iraqi resistance groups” to also attend.
With help from Syria, France started looking for Iraqi figures that could be invited as “resistance” leaders and opponents of the interim government in Baghdad. Among the Iraqi figures contacted were Muhammad Al-Durri, a former diplomatic aide to Saddam Hussein who had served as ambassador to the United Nations. Also canvassed were Abdul-Razzaq Al-Hashemi, a former minister of science under Saddam Hussein, and Mahdi Salehi, a former Baathist minister of commerce with ties to the French establishment.
None of the figures canvassed, however, are involved in the “resistance” while at least two are in exile in the United Arab Emirates.
Both the Iraqi interim government and the US-led coalition have criticized the French move as a naked bid to find a place for the dissolved Baath party in the new Iraq.
“We understand France’s desire to revive part of its influence in Iraq,” says an aide to interim Prime Minister Allawi. “But this does not mean that we can let Baathist criminals and their jihadist allies to gain a foothold thanks to French support.”
France, however, had insisted that the individuals and groups it wishes to invite must first renounce violence.
Although France has softened its position on the Sharm El-Sheikh conference, it still appears determined to make life as difficult for the Iraqi interim government and its US backers as possible.
A French Foreign Ministry spokesman yesterday insisted that France’s position had not changed and that talks were ongoing about how the conference would take place.
“We’ve heard the message of some partners about the desire to maintain a purely intergovernmental process, so we’ll see,” said Herve Ladsous. “But we retain our preference for a more inclusive process.”
France is preparing alternatives.
In addition to the governmental conference, Barnier said France hoped for a separate meeting — “at the same time or shortly afterward” — of Iraqi political groups, forces and factions that renounce violence.
“It appears important to me that the Iraqis — in their largest majority — must take hold of this political and democratic process,” he said.
Barnier insisted Iraqis should have a say in their country’s future. Otherwise, the intergovernmental conference may not reach its goal of lifting Iraq out of a “black hole” of violence, he said.
One idea is to invite Iraqi “resistance” figures and groups to a conference in Paris. But the Allawi government and virtually every Iraqi political party will almost certainly boycott such a conference.
Another idea is for France to meet with “resistance” figures earlier and then act as their spokesman in the Sharm El-Sheikh conference.
France is also determined to make life difficult for the US-led coalition by insisting that the Sharm El-Sheikh conference include in its agenda a discussion about fixing a date for the withdrawal of the occupation forces from Iraq.
Under the latest UN Security Council resolutions the issue of withdrawing the coalition forces will be raised only at the end of next year and after an elected Iraqi government is in place in Baghdad. France, however, believes that the situation in Iraq is such that the occupation cannot continue for another 14 months or so.
Analysts believe that France’s attitude, of course, may change if President Bush loses the presidency in next week’s election.
“Paris will do everything to make life as hard for Bush as possible,” says analyst Olivier Marquand. “
If John Kerry is elected, however, Paris may want to signal its joy by adopting a more positive attitude toward Iraq. Such a signal could be a constructive approach to the Sharm El-Sheikh conference, and the ending of French objections to a NATO role in building the new Iraqi army.”
Taking part in the Sharm El-Sheikh conference will be Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Iran as neighbors of Iraq. The United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, and Japan will also be present as members of the G-8 group along with Russia. The current holder of the European Union presidency, Holland, will represent the EU.
The Iraqi interim government wants the conference to focus on three key issues.
The first is the election for a Constituent Assembly in January. Iraq wants the participants to help with organizing the exercise and send observers to monitor it.
The second Iraqi demand is that mixed commissions be formed to monitor Iraq’s borders with neighbors to stop the flow of illegal arms and jihadists to insurgents in the country.
Iraqi authorities claim that some neighbors, notably Iran and Syria, have allowed jihadists to use their territories for attacks against Iraq.
Both Iran and Syria reject the charge.
Finally, the Iraqis want the conference to approve plans for a multi-national peacekeeping force that would include a big Islamic component.
The idea was first launched by Saudi Arabia last summer but has since been on the backburner.
Here, too, the result of the American election next week is certain to impact any decision at Sharm El-Sheikh.
An international peacekeeping force with a strong Muslim presence would allow the US-led coalition to reduce its forces while remaining in Iraq for as long as needed to stabilize the country and consolidate its reconstruction and democratization programs.
