Posted on 09/04/2007 2:05:22 PM PDT by Kaslin
Representatives from Iraq's Sunni and Shia groups attending secret talks in Finland have agreed a set of principles aimed at ending sectarian violence.
Politicians from Northern Ireland and South Africa also attended the four-day meeting, to share their experiences of bringing divided communities together.
The Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, was one of the chairmen of the talks.
The event was organised by a conflict prevention group based in Finland.
The group, Crisis Management Initiative, released a statement late on Monday, saying the participants had "committed themselves to work towards a robust framework for a lasting settlement".
This includes an agreement that fighting in Iraq should end and that solutions to problems should be found through democracy and power-sharing, the statement said.
It added that participants had agreed to form an independent commission to supervise the disarmament of non-governmental armed groups.
The venue and names of the participants were kept secret to allow the meeting to take place in private.
Responsibility
However, the Associated Press reports that the delegates included representatives of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the largest Sunni Arab political group, Adnan al-Dulaimi, and Humam Hammoudi, the Shia chairman of the Iraqi parliament's foreign affairs committee.
Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, told the BBC that the Iraqi delegates were very interested to hear how power sharing was achieved in Northern Ireland and in South Africa
"We were speaking to people who recognise that they are all Iraqis, that they all have a responsibility to work together to build peace for the people they represent," he said.
Crisis Management Initiative is headed by the former Finnish president, Martti Ahtisaari, who helped end 30 years of conflict in Aceh, in Indonesia in 2005.
The Finnish broadcaster, YLE, reported that Mr Ahtisaari - who did not attend the meetings - said it was up to the Iraqis whether they wanted to continue the process.
Whether this end up working or not, just the fact that it is going on — that the two sides don’t have their heels dug in — is good news.
They'll just go back to saying the surge isn't working and this shows we needed a political, not military solution all along...
“They’ll just go back to saying the surge isn’t working and this shows we needed a political, not military solution all along...”
Precisely my thinking as well. This is an exercise in futility. All this does is provide more discussion with the Left when what we need is not words, but action.
Ireland consists of Human Beings that reason and think ultimately for Peace and Sovereignty. Granted they perfected the Terrorist tactics, however against oppression opposed to for the purpose of aggression and spreading their mental disease regionally and beyond to the World.
Is it possible to take an Orange and teach a Lemon to be one?
Finland?
Well, atleast they are talking instead of kiling eachother.
Hopefully whatever they agreed on they can bring back to their sect leaders.
Like it or not it is the democrat criticism of the war and of the Iraqis that got them off their butts and moving
It also got the Surge going
Not that they had any motive but to break Bush’s stones
I agree to a certain degree. The brutality of AQ in Iraq played a large part as well. The beauty of this is we all know the "Rats just may have sowed some of the seeds to their own demise.
Agree
The Iraqis are doomed.
“Just make sure you don’t tell ANYONE...”
Peace and reconciliation in Iraq ping.
If they are such secret talks, why do we know about them?
Like all liberal socialist based talks, they are secret from conseervatives, everyone else " knows."
What is this about?
Its about the Iraqis stroking the Eurolibs in order to get fully funded social programs for Iraq,exchange programs to for Iraqis to European Universities who are kind to Muslims,and a few European hookers to go to Iraq.
Conservatives might interfere with all this, so we are not supposed to "know."
Get it?
The talks are strictly unofficial., merely exploratory, but then they are in place. How will you know. Watch for Eurohookers from Finland to show up in Baghdad, and the social programs will be in place as well.
You gotta hand it to the Iraqis, they KNOW how to stroke liberals.
Alright. Lets see some real positive results come out of it.
This seems very encouraging to me, and I pray for positive outcomes that will help our troops in Iraq complete their mission.
More details on reuters exerpted below. Worth clicking on to read the whole article...
HELSINKI, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Officials from Iraq's warring Shi'ite and Sunni Arabs agreed to work towards ending sectarian violence crippling the country, a local group that organised the meeting in Finland said on Tuesday.
The 30 participants agreed on a set of recommendations and political objectives for talks which could lead to national reconciliation, Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) said in a statement...click for more
Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Pony trekking or camping,
Or just watching TV.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
It’s the country for me.
You’re so near to Russia,
So far from Japan,
Quite a long way from Cairo,
Lots of miles from Vietnam.
Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Eating breakfast or dinner,
Or snack lunch in the hall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.
You’re so sadly neglected
And often ignored,
A poor second to Belgium,
When going abroad.
Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.
Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
Finland has it all.
Finland has it all.
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