International community rallies around Iraq

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on Iraq’s neighbours and other nations today to reassure Iraq it has the world’s support as Iraqis work to secure and rebuild the country.

Annan joined the US, the European Union and Iraq in opening a one-day conference at EU headquarters in Brussels on Iraq’s future. Dozens of senior officials from more than 80 nations and organisations attended the meeting - from the Fiji Islands to the Vatican and China – at the request of Iraq’s six-week-old transitional government.

“You send an important message which I hope is heard loud and clear both in Iraq and elsewhere: The international community supports the government and the people of Iraq, and we are determined that the reconstruction of Iraq ... must succeed,” said Annan in opening remarks.

In return, Iraq’s new government must improve security, open up its economy and “open political space for all members of Iraqi society who reject violence,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said his government would ask for help in training its military – and for its neighbours to take serious action in controlling their borders to prevent insurgents from infiltrating into Iraq.

He said he would lay out his government’s plans for the political transition before elections, reconstruction and establishment of security – and then ask for help with expertise, from legal advice to training for police and judges.

“What we need from you is exactly what your people need from you: The children of Iraq are just like yours – they don’t want to lose their fathers and turn to orphans. The women of Iraq are just like yours – they don’t want to lose their husbands to turn to widowers,” he told the conference.

After opening the conference, delegates held closed-door talks at the EU Council.

In a draft declaration, participants “expressed support for Iraqi efforts to achieve a democratic, pluralist, federal and unified Iraq, reflecting the will of the Iraqi people, in which there is full respect for political and human rights.”

The conference also was to call for “all Iraqis to participate in the political process,” especially in drafting the nations new constitution, according to the draft.

They called on Iraq and its neighbours “to cooperate with each other to prevent cross-border transit and support for terrorists, to strengthen good neighbourly relations and to improve regional security.

“Participants urged all countries to, as the case may be, re-establish or strengthen diplomatic relations with Iraq at the earliest possibility.”

Diplomats said participants also committed to carrying through on some 32 billion dollars (£17.5billion) in pledges made at a donors’ conference last year to help reconstruction efforts, and reiterated commitments “to provide debt relief on generous terms.”

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari also said the Iraqis would ask their neighbours to normalise diplomatic relations with Baghdad. He was to announced today that Egypt is the first Arab nation to send an ambassador to Iraq.

The gathering, hosted by the EU and the US, also gives Europe, the US and other nations an opportunity to move past divisions to present a united front on Iraq.

“This is a very important day for Iraq. It is replete with symbolism because what it emphasises. that the international community having been deeply divided during the course and before the military action has now come together actively to support the building of a democratic, peaceful and prosperous Iraq,” Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said as he arrived at the conference.