Straw presides European delegation in sudden visit to Baghdad
Iraq-European Union, Politics, 6/10/2005

The British foreign office secretary Jack Straw met with the Iraqi President Jalal al-Talibani and several members of leaders of the Iraqi government in Baghdad which he had arrived earlier in the day on Thursday in a sudden visit accompanied by a delegation representing the European Union.

Straw said that the aim of the visit is to show that differences that hit relations of certain European states before the war against Iraq ended completely.

The European visit to Iraq came at a time when Washington showed flexibility towards Iraqi officials starting negotiations with groups linked to gunmen in Iraq. The US Secretary Of State Condaleezza Rice said that the reconciliation process there should be an Iraqi process.

In the course of the American attempts to ease down the political situation in Iraq, a prominent American official, asked to be anonymous, confirmed that Washington is making talks with the leaders of Iraqi Arab Sunni in an attempt to convince the gunmen to drop their weapons and take part in the political process, noting that the Iraqi negotiators taking part in these talks are linked to the gunmen throughout tribal kinships or working together under the reign of the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

Previous Stories:
  Allawi meets with European leaders in Brussels   (11/5/2004)
  Zeibari calls for tangible aids to Iraq   (7/13/2004)
  The EU and the situation in Iraq   (4/20/2004)

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