Monday, January 10th 2011Moussa in Najaf: National reconciliation can restore Iraq’s prominence in Middle East
Najaf, The Secretary-General of the Arab League said on Monday that national reconciliation can help to restore Iraq’s former prominence in Middle Eastern affarirs, adding that the reconciliation efforts must continue and should include all political forces in Iraq.
Speaking to the press following a meeting the Shiite religious authority Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Amr Moussa said that the meeting had been positive in detailing the political situation in Iraq.
“The phase of exclusion has come to term in Iraq,” the Arab League leader said, “…a new phase of stability and reconstruction has begun.”
Moussa took the opportunity to confirm the Arab League’s resolution to hold their next Summit, scheduled to begin on March 23, in the Iraqi capital.
“The agenda of the summit was prepared in coordination with the Iraqi side,” he continued.
Moussa arrived in Iraq on Saturday on a two-day visit. Following meetings in Baghdad with senior Iraqi officials to discuss preparations for the forthcoming Summit and its agenda, the Arab League’s Secretary General headed to Najaf, amid tight security measures, to meet with Sistani.
Earlier today, Amr Moussa arrived in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, for a meeting with the regional president Massoud Barzani, on the last leg of his Iraqi visit.
In an Arab League meeting in the Libyan city of Sirte last month, it was decided that the next Arab Summit would be held in Baghdad despite the reticence of some Arab states concerning security issues in the Iraqi capital.
The Iraqi government has allocated around $300m to the preparations for the meeting of Arab leaders, to cover the implementation of tight security measures and the refurbishment of six of Baghdad’s biggest hotels.
The Iraqi government has described the move as a national achievement and evidence of Iraq's return to the Arab arena.
Iraq has not hosted the Arab summit since May 1990 due to the international sanctions imposed on the country by the U.N. after the invasion of Kuwait and the unstable security situation following the U.S.-led, allied invasion of Iraq in 2003.
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