Issues in the Iraqi reconciliation conference in Cairo today

Works of the Iraqi national reconciliation conference start today in Cairo under the auspices of the Arab league and the attendance of more 60 figures represebting various Iraqi sides.

It is expected that the conference will discuss several basic points of differences including changes the Sunni demanded to be introduced to the Iraqi constitution in order to ensure they will not be marginalized, and not to have Iraq partitioned, in addition to the issue of the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq, halting the violence and surrendering weapons.

The conferees will also discuss the question of reforms in the Iraqi security forces in light of information disclosed on their torturing Sunni detainees.

The opening session will be attended by the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Algerian President Abdul Aziz Butaflika as well as the Iraqi President Jalal al-Talibani. The Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the foreign minister Hoshira Zeibari, the Iraqi vice President Hishira Zeibari, the chairman of the Muslim Scholars Commission, Harith al-Dari, and the secretary general of the Islamic party, Tareq al-Hashimi, arrived in Cairo to take part in the conference.

Absent from the conference which will be held at the headquarters of the Arab league are the two main Shiite leaders in Iraq: the chairman of the Higher Council For Islamic Revolution, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, and the Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sader.

Also arrived in the meeting were the Iranian foreign minister Manho Shaher Mutaqi who was invited to attend the conference's opening session in addition to representatives for Turkey, the UN and five permanent member states at the UN Security Council.

The meeting is attended by the foreign ministers of the 8 Arab states members in the following up committee of the Iraqi situation: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Algeria and Egypt.

Opening the conference, Mubarak was quoted officially as saying that "Dialogue, being the road to success, is the responsibility of the people of Iraq, while protecting the unity of its sons is a national duty."

"The secret word for building a new Iraq is realizing national reconciliation among its sons and the key to surmounting the current difficult stage is the unity of its people and the road to rendering the current political process success is to guarantee the participation of all Iraqis in this process, without exception or marginalization, and our preparatory meeting today for the upcoming national reconciliation conference in Iraq is an important step on this road," he said.

"The present and future of Iraq concerns us all, the success of the ongoing political process in Iraq is our aim, and we have a strong conviction that national reconciliation among the people of Iraq and the unity of its sons, are the road to secure this success," Mubarak added.

There is no place more appropriate than the Arab League and Egypt for holding this preparatory conference and discussing Iraq's present and future at this sensitive time in its contemporary history, President Mubarak said. Iraq is at the heart and conscience of the Arab world, he said.