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Iraq Meeting Opens Amid Charges of Legitimizing Occupation
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An
Egyptian policeman patrols the
garden
of
Jolie Ville
congress center, the venue of the conference
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SHARM
EL-SHEIKH, November 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - An
international conference on
Iraq
opened Monday, November 22, in this Egyptian Red Sea resort city,
clouded by criticism of “legitimizing” the US-led occupation.
As
some 20
foreign ministers and heads of four international organizations
gathered for the two-day event, the Association of Muslim Scholars
(AMS), the highest Sunni religious authority in
Iraq
, said the conference would further give credibility to the
US-handpicked interim Iraqi government.
The
influential group last week renewed appeals for a boycott of the
January 30 vote in protest against the devastating US-led assault on
the western city of
Fallujah
.
So
far, 47 Sunni, Shiite, Turkoman and Christian bodies and movements
have declared their
boycott of the upcoming election.
Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a conference participant, said Monday a
Sunni boycott would upset political balances and create even more
trouble in the war-torn country.
“Big
difficulties may arise if the Sunni Arab community does not
participate fully in the elections,” he told Turkish daily Hurriyet.
“Legitimizing
Occupation”
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“Big
difficulties may arise if the Sunni Arab community does not
participate fully in the elections,” said Gul
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Egypt
’s Muslim Brotherhood agreed the conference was a bid to
“legitimize” the occupation and the interim government of Iyad
Allawi “imposed” by
Washington
.
“A
conference excluding the resistance and anti-occupation powers would
only lead to more disasters and tragedies and is doomed to failure,”
it said in a statement emailed to IslamOnline.net.
In
Jordan
, the Islamic Labour Front urged Arab governments not to
“facilitate” the job of the
US
occupation.
Iran
, a major regional player, said it was going to the conference to
demand an end to the US-led occupation, reported Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
Iranian
foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said his country would
“protest against the methods of the United States, insist on the
necessity of withdrawing American troops from Iraq and the
organization of elections on schedule.”
He
said
Tehran
backed any plan that would lead to a departure of US troops from
neighboring
Iraq
, and called on the
US
to respond publicly to
Iran
’s offer to help it leave the “quagmire”.
Iran
has sent Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi to the international meeting,
but has ruled out the prospect of any direct talks there with the
United States
.
Draft
Declaration
A
14-point draft declaration is based on an Egyptian text that was
amended during several preparatory meetings held in
Cairo
, amid wrangling between anti-war
France
and the
US
.
The
conference will not set a deadline for the withdrawal of the US-led
occupation forces as desired by Paris and other countries, including
Iran, according to a draft copy of the final declaration, which was
obtained by The Associated Press.
The
draft leaves it to the Iraqi government to decide when foreign forces
should depart.
It
does, however, remind the US-occupation forces that its mandate is
“not open-ended.”
The
conference is also expected to condemn “all acts of terrorism in
Iraq
and calls for the immediate cessation of all such acts in order to
alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people.”
Furthermore,
the draft stresses the UN leading role in helping with the January
elections and urges cooperation or at least “non-interference”
from neighboring countries.
The
participants are expected to reiterate their commitment to UN Security
Council resolution 1546 on the political process.
Iraqi
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced Monday that another meeting
of
Iraq
's neighbors would be hosted by
Iran
on November 30.
The
Sharm El-Sheikh conference has been in the pipeline ever since Allawi
called for an international forum during a
Cairo
visit in July.
It
brings together
Iraq
's neighbors, the UN Security Council’s five permanent members,
Group of Eight and international bodies such as the UN, EU, Arab
League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Financial
issues will also be discussed at the two-day conference after the
Paris Club of creditors wrote 80 percent of the Iraqi debt.
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