Jordan’s King Takes Arab Lead In Visiting Iraq
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
Iraq’s drive to forge ties with Sunni-led Arab neighbors, who it says have shunned its Shiite Muslim leadership, got a boost Monday when Jordan’s King Abdullah II became the first leader of an mostly Sunni Arab nation to visit since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The visit is the latest in a series of moves by Arab states that Iraqi and U.S. officials say could improve security and counter the influence of Iran, Iraq’s Shiite-led neighbor and a player in Iraq’s economic, diplomatic and security matters.
The circumstances of the visit were in stark contrast to those surrounding the trip to Baghdad by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in March. Abdullah’s visit was not announced in advance, there were no public appearances and he stayed just a few hours. Ahmadinejad’s arrival was trumpeted well in advance, he received a red-carpet welcome, made several public appearances and was in Iraq for two days.
The United States accuses Iran of fomenting unrest in Iraq by aiding and training Shiite militias. Both the U.S. and Iraq have said if Sunni-led states in the region had more of a presence in Iraq, it could temper Iran’s clout.
But Arab countries have not had a good reception in Iraq. An Egyptian envoy was kidnapped and killed shortly after arriving in 2005 to represent his country. The Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad was bombed in August 2003.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari called Abdullah’s visit a “bold step” and said he hopes other Arab nations will follow suit. “The visit was short, however with a great political significance. It was a historic visit in my opinion,” Zebari told Iraqi television.
Zebari said Abdullah’s arrival shows that Arab nations are recognizing that Iraq is “starting to rise again.”
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said Abdullah’s visit is “a positive sign reflecting improving conditions in Iraq.” She said the United States hopes the visit will spur other Arab and world leaders to visit Iraq, send ambassadors to Baghdad and step up cooperation with the country.
Jordan, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates are the only Sunni Arab states to name ambassadors to Iraq since the ouster of Hussein, whose Sunni dictatorship repressed Iraq’s Shiite majority. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates named their ambassadors only in the last two months.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office said he hopes the visit will lead to closer relations between his nation and other regional states and will improve security.
Iraqi and U.S. officials say many of the foreign Sunni Muslim insurgents recruited by al Qaeda in Iraq have entered via neighboring Sunni states, and the authorities have pressed those countries to improve border controls.
The Sunni insurgent group’s influence has diminished in recent months, but it remains active.
In new violence in Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, police said a 15-year-old girl blew herself up Monday with more than 20 pounds of explosives inside a police station. The U.S. military said one Iraqi police officer was killed, but earlier reports from Iraqi officials put the death toll at five.
And on a road east of Baquba, a roadside bomb killed five Iraqi women when it detonated near their vehicle.
Diyala is an al Qaeda stronghold where the Iraqi military last month launched an offensive against insurgents. Previous military offensives led by U.S. troops have led to periods of calm, but violence tends to increase again as soon as insurgents chased from the region regroup.
On Monday, the Iraqi military said it was halting the latest offensive until Friday to give gunmen time to disarm.
Other developments
Georgian troops: The departure of 2,000 Georgian soldiers from Iraq leaves a question mark over the future of a series of checkpoints near the Iranian border. Three Georgian checkpoints on highways surrounding the area’s main city of Kut were empty on Monday.
Refugees: Several hundred Iraqi refugees flew home from Egypt on Monday, the first government-organized flight intended to accelerate the return of Iraqis. The International Organization of Migration says some 13,000 Iraqis have returned from nations in the region - a tiny proportion of the estimated 2.5 million who fled Iraq’s turmoil after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Source — San Francisco Chronicle