UN envoy sees rapprochement between Iraqi Council and Arab League
The top United Nations envoy in Iraq today held out the prospect of breaking the regional isolation of the Iraqi Governing Council following his discussions with officials in Cairo last weekend, with a possible meeting next week between the United States-appointed body and the 22-member Arab League secretariat starting a rapprochement.
"I believe this lack of face-to-face dialogue has led to huge misperceptions and misunderstandings and I believe it is high time for these to be resolved and overcome for direct contact," Sergio Vieira de Mello, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative, told a briefing in Baghdad.
He said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa had indicated "that he will prepare the Secretariat General to receive members of the Governing Council at the League in Cairo starting next week, to engage in a dialogue which we all believe is essential."
Mr. Vieira de Mello said he had passed this message back to the Governing Council, which he has endorsed as credible and broadly representative of the various constituencies in Iraq although it was set up by the US-run Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).
He hoped the Council would soon appoint members to tour the region, "in particular to engage in this dialogue, which I believe is very productive with the Arab League. It is obvious to me that Iraq needs its neighbours and the neighbours of Iraq need this country as well. So it is about time they talk to one another," he added.
He said he believed that once the Council and the Arab League "establish this dialogue and nurture it," the Arab world would increasingly support the Council in "this very, very difficult transition that will lead to the full recognition of Iraq as a member of the Arab family of nations and of the United Nations."
In return, he said the Council would provide its neighbours with "all the assurances they need that this is a government that will pursue a policy of cooperation and the development of friendly relations with its neighbours, as must be the case.
"That's the only way forward. So I can see a gradual process of rapprochement between the Arab League and the Governing Council in the months ahead," he added in reply to a question.
Mr. Vieira de Mello also called on the Council to quickly appoint interim ministers so that the UN would be in a better position to support them sectorally.
He said his relationship with the CPA "has been business-like, has been constructive. It has been open. It has been frank. We haven't agreed on everything, which is normal and natural and to be expected, but I think I can tell you that we have been working well with them."
The common goal of both the UN and the CPA was "restore as soon as possible the full sovereignty of the Iraqis," he added.
He also reiterated the UN's readiness, if requested, to assist in the preparation and holding of whatever form of elections the Iraqis opt for next year, be it referendum, general elections or both.