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| Iraq |
| Iraq announces plan for stability |
| 2007-03-18 |
| The Iraqi vice president unveiled his country's economic and political reform package before nearly 100 envoys at a UN conference, pledging to adopt a law that will share the country's oil riches among its often feuding regions and a program that would grant amnesty for insurgents who renounce violence. Adel Abdul-Mahdi, one of two vice presidents, urged international support for the Iraq Compact, a five-year plan that requires the government to enact key political and economic reforms during its transition to financial self-sufficiency and integration into the regional and global economy. "We are looking forward to really take Iraq out of its crisis with the help of the international community," Abdul-Mahdi said after the closed-door meeting Friday. The compact was set up by the United Nations and the Iraqi government shortly after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki took office in June 2006. The conference's purpose was not to secure financial assistance for Iraq, but to allow the government to present its budget and legislative agenda to the international community in the hopes of marshaling support for its plans ahead of a donor conference. Abdul-Mahdi had said the conference participants would choose a date and place for the adoption of the compact, but they did not. Ibrahim Gambari, the UN chair of the compact, said the launch would definitely happen before April 30 in a location yet to be determined. Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt, who led the US delegation, said the launch would provide an opportunity for the international community to respond to the Iraqi proposals and pledge financial assistance. "The Iraqis have done their part," Kimmitt said of Friday's unveiling of the compact. "The question now is, what will the international community do?" Gambari noted that several countries have already said they will forgive Iraqi debt to the tune of $4 billion. The package that Abdul-Mahdi presented included provisions for an oil-profit sharing law, which he predicted the Iraqi parliament would adopt in the coming weeks, a plan for drawing foreign investment into the country, and a fully funded budget for 2007, in which spending on education and health is double that of 2006. It also contains political initiatives aimed at healing the sectarian rift that is responsible for some of the worst violence in the country. The government proposed a national reconciliation project, including amnesty for insurgents who renounce violence, reversing measures that have excluded many former members of Saddam Hussein's ruling Baath party from the government, and the creation of a human rights commission. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who convened the conference, acknowledged in his address that both the security and the humanitarian situations in Iraq are deteriorating. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who convened the conference, acknowledged in his address that both the security and the humanitarian situations in Iraq are deteriorating." That piece of conventional wisdom may already be dated. It is hard to say with certainty that the situation in Iraq is improving, but from what I have read the level of violence throughout most areas there has decreased substantially recently. The US/Iraqi plans to pacify the trouble spots could actually be working, but perception will lag behind reality for a while. |
| Posted by: Spiter Gonque6653 2007-03-18 07:16 |