Al-Rikabi might preside over an Iraqi government; Baghdad negotiate with oppositions abroad

The Iraqi write Abdul Ameer al-Rikabi, who lives in Paris said he expects the Iraqi government to resume talks with Iraqis in exiles, like him, over forming a new government that he might be its prime minister.

In a statement al-Rikabi said "Unfortunately I have all the components qualifying for presiding over a national unity government. I am a Shiite Leftist and is accepted by the Leftist forces and I am an Arab and an active writer and have Arab relations." He added "I say 'unfortunately' because I am a journalist and not a statesman, but if I will be asked to carry out a national mission to preside over a government, I will perform that mission."

Al-Rikabi ( 55 year old) said that there are indicators that Baghdad is preparing to resume the negotiations with opposition members it considers as "nationalists" in exile in order to agree on political arrangements that meet the demands of the regime's opposition members.

He added he had met with Iraqi officials, whose identities he did not disclose in Amman last spring. He also indicated that the Iraqi deputy premier Tareq Aziz described him recently in Beirut as a typical example of the "national opposition." He continued that negotiations between the Iraqi government and the opposition nationalists has not stopped abroad since 11 years. He said "I personally went to Baghdad in 1992 to negotiate with the government. He stressed that there is "a trend in the Iraqi opposition who continued dialoguing with the regime in order to achieve a change by national means "instead of having the change from outside." He, thereby, refered to the Iraqi opposition backed by Washington.