Iraq warns neighbours that violence could spread

Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari today urged Iraq’s neighbours to prevent “terrorists and killers” from crossing into his country and warned that the violence in Iraq could spill across its borders into other nations.

Zebari’s comments came during the opening of a day long conference that brought to Baghdad officials from all of Iraq’s neighbours and other Mideast countries, as well as representatives from the UN and the Group of Eight industrialised nations.

It picked up from the first such conference in March, which saw the first direct US-Iranian talks since the war began, focusing on border problems, Iraqi refugees and energy issues, including oil supplies.

“Despite our emphasis on national reconciliation at home we also need to reconcile with our neighbourhood, with the international community at large,” Zebari told the group. “And this is critical period for us that we need your support and your commitment especially for our immediate neighbours.”

Zebari’s appeal to Iraq’s neighbours occurred on the eve of the start of congressional hearings in Washington by US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and top commander General David Petraeus who are to deliver key reports on Iraq’s progress amid a debate over calls to start bringing American troops home.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said he there has been “progress on the security side, particularly in Baghdad,” but said support from the US was still needed and that there should be no timetable set for it to end.

“When things get better and the security situation gets better the Iraqi government will be able to talk about a timetable,” he told a regular news conference.

US officials have also said security has been improving but that they are not seeing significant progress politically with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s government.

But Maliki disputed that assessment at the meeting, saying the “Iraqi national unity government has achieved great victories in different fields as it works seriously to improve the economic situation, and has achieved major results despite the major economic destruction that we inherited from the former regime”.

Security was extraordinarily tight in central Baghdad where the meeting was taking place at the Foreign Ministry complex with security forces blocking two main bridges linking the city’s eastern and western sectors to all but official traffic.

Parliament cancelled its session today for lack of a quorum because many legislators could not make it due to the closed roads, said Wissam al-Zubaidi, an adviser to deputy parliament speaker Khaled al-Attiyah.

The Iranian and Syrian deputy foreign ministers headed their countries’ delegations while other regional countries were represented by their ambassadors, Zebari told the AP ahead of the meeting. In addition to neighbours Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan, delegations from Egypt and Bahrain were present.

With Crocker in Washington, the US was represented by the deputy chief of mission in Iraq, Patricia Butenis.

Zebari said they needed to talk about helping the Iraqi government bring security and stability to Iraq internally, but added that the country’s neighbours needed to “actively work on controlling the borders and prevent terrorists and killers from infiltrating across into Iraq”.

“Terrorism should be fought ... because the fires that they are igniting in the land of the two rivers (Iraq) will spread outside the borders and endanger neighbouring countries,” Zebari said.

He did not identify any country by name, but the Iraqi and US governments have accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross into Iraq and say Iran is supplying Shiite militias with weapons – claims that both countries deny. The Iraqi government has also said that many of those who carry out suicide attacks in Iraq come from Saudi Arabia.