Jordan Times
Friday, January 7, 2005
Iraq's neighbours vow support for polls
AMMAN — Iraq's neighbouring states on Thursday pledged not to interfere in the violence-torn country's internal affairs and urged all Iraqis to vote on January 30.
Concluding a meeting here, foreign ministers of Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Kuwait, as well as officials from Iran “reconfirm respect for the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Iraq, and the principles of non-interference in any country's internal affairs as stated in United Nations Charter.”
Their final communiquب reiterated “the right of Iraqis to enjoy a secure and stable life and to freely determine their future through democratic means, urging all Iraqis to perform their duty and shape their future by voting.” “The elections represent the only opportunity in sight along the path of democracy and freedom,” the
communiqué said.
Foreign Minister Hani Mulki told a press conference following the meeting that there was an unanimous agreement by all the countries on the 11-article communiqué, which also called for abiding by UN Resolution 1546 to secure the borders of Iraq's neighbours and prevent infiltration of terrorists. But informed diplomatic sources said the Iranian and Syrian delegations objected to a clause in the proposed final communiqué that said neighbouring states should not “interfere in Iraq's elections.” The sources added that Baghdad rejected a Syrian bid to include a point in the communiqué, thanking neighbouring countries “for helping Iraq and not interfering in its internal affairs.” Jordan tried to add a sentence urging Iraqi Sunnis to participate in the elections, but other countries insisted that the communiqué instead urge all Iraqis to vote. “The Iraqi people should participate as much as they can. Everybody in Iraq, every part of Iraq should be able to participate. This is the united position in this meeting,” Iranian diplomat Ghulam Ali Khoshro told reporters after the meeting. Khoshro, whose foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, did not attend the conference in what reports said was in response to accusations Tehran was meddling in Iraq's internal affairs and trying to influence the upcoming elections, said Iraq's neighbours should “facilitate and encourage” the polls. “All the Iraqi people should participate. Neighbouring countries should facilitate, help and encourage this democratic process, which is in the interest of all neighbouring countries,” he added.
Many of the Sunnis in Iraq have called for a boycott or at least a 30-day postponement of the electoral process, saying the security situation in the country made it impossible to hold elections in certain parts of the country. Addressing the meeting earlier Thursday, Mulki called for the elections to be held on time and urged Iraqis to seize the “golden opportunity.” “I call on all factions of the Iraqi people, young and old, men and women to go to the polls to choose their representatives and draw their own future,” he said. Mulki, however, warned that failing to take part in the elections would leave the door open for “others to make the choice for Iraqis.” In an interview on Wednesday with Kuwait's Al Rai Al Aam newspaper, His Majesty King Abdullah said Iraqis should decide their future without foreign meddling. “Iraqis alone have the right to determine their future by taking part in an election free of external influence that may produce a government... which represents a group at the expense of another,” he said.
King Abdullah received the delegates at the Royal Court earlier Thursday and told them that “Iraqis alone have the right to determine their future by taking part in an election free of external influence that may produce a government, which represents one group at the expense of another.” Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said neighbouring countries should refrain from interfering in his country's elections. “The message we're going to give them in this meeting is to refrain from any interference... that would affect the outcome of this election,” he said. Thursday's meeting was the seventh in a series of gatherings leading up to the elections. Delegates agreed to hold a new meeting devoted to Iraq in Istanbul, Turkey, after the January 30 vote. The conference was also attended by representatives from Egypt and Bahrain and the UN special envoy Ashraf Qazi.