Iraqi opposition postpones Irbil conference for several days

The Iraqi opposition has postponed its meeting which was due yesterday in the city of Irbil in the North of Iraq for several days.

The official in charge of international relations at the Kurdistani Democratic Party, Husheir Zeibari, attributed the reasons behind the postponement to the bad weather conditions which resulted in delay in the arrival of the participating delegations.

In a joint press conference he held with the spokesman of the Kurdistani National Federation, Latif al-Sheif, in the city of Irbil, Husheir denied any differences concerning the meeting. He expressed his hope that this meeting will start very soon, adding he expects delegations from the USA, Turkey and parliamentarians from France and Britain to attend.

He also explained that so far some 30 participants had arrived in Irbil. The meeting, however, is presumed to include 65 out of 75 members in the Iraqi follow up and coordination opposition committee which stemmed from the London conference, held in December, 2002.

The official at the Kurdistani Democratic Party indicated that the aim of the meeting is to agree on the framework for leading the opposition with the participation of all sides and not to exclude any side and to found specialized committees in various aspects of the opposition work concerning foreign relations, the media and legal and constitutional issues.