Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Friday, October 1, 2004
Jordan, US agree on elections - Muasher
WASHINGTON, October 1 (Agencies) - In Washington,
Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher on Wednesday said Jordan and the US were not at
odds over the feasibility of holding elections in Iraq by the end of January.
"Let me stress that there is no difference whatsoever between our position and
that of the US administration," Muasher said after meeting US Secretary of State
Colin Powell.
Muasher said Washington and Amman saw eye-to-eye on the elections.
"We both agree that security is very important and we're both working with the
Iraqi interim government to be able to help them provide that security," he
said.
"We both agree that elections should be held all over Iraq so that every Iraqi
can participate in the election process and we expressed our hope that the
elections will be held on time and that the conditions would be conducive for
that," Muasher said.
"As His Majesty King Abdullah mentioned the other day, the security situation is
a challenge," Powell said. "We ... are hard at work with the Iraqi interim
government to bring the security situation under control and to defeat this
insurgency."
"It is the obligation of the international community to help the Iraqi people
achieve freedom and stability so that they can become a nation of stability in
the region and I thank Jordan for the assistance that it has been providing," he
said.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Tuesday took issue with the idea
that the United States and Iraqi authorities would allow the current instability
to continue and fester through the election.
"The election will not be held given current circumstances," he said then. "Part
of the strategy is to create a different set of circumstances so that elections
can be held throughout the country without too much problem."