Report: Iraqi leaders issue second call for urgent meeting with eight opposition factions
Iraq, Politics, 1/12/1999

The Jordanian daily al-Arab al-Youm reported on Monday that the Iraqi leadership has extended a second urgent invitation to eight opposition factions abroad to visit Iraq and hold rounds of dialogue with Iraqi officials, following the first round made by the United Iraqi Organization delegation in Baghdad, recently.

The paper quoted sources from the "United Iraqi Organization" as saying that the invitation this time is plenary and came less than 48 hours after statements made by Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan in which he said political pluralism is vital to the Baath Party because it reactivates it and makes it more serious in its work.

The Jordanian paper continued that the invitation reached the opposition factions through a high-ranking governmental figure, adding that a consultative meeting was held on Sunday by the eight factions to give an answer to the Iraqi governmental figure and to set a date for visiting Baghdad.

The paper quoted an Iraqi opposition figure as saying that the Iraqi official figure spoke to the eight factions about the Syrian and Jordanian experiences in the area of political pluralism, noting that officials from the Iraqi opposition concerned "refused the two experiences because they do not meet the ambitions."

The Iraqi opposition figure added that the governmental figure set a governmental request to complete the dialogue and meet with President Saddam Hussein and his Vice President Ramadan, noting that this request created great satisfaction at the opposition circles over raising the level of the dialogue to a higher level.

The paper expected the dialogue delegation to travel very soon to Baghdad, including Jannar Habib, Othman al-Daqouqi, Abdul Aziz al-Insari, Ibtisam Hussein, Ahmad Majid, Hadi al-Husseini, Imad Kheiri, Sheikh Adnan al-Deilimi, Sheikh Ali Muhsin al-Damen and Muhammad Saleh.

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