| This of course is the first news I've seen from the Iraq conference. |
Violence and boycotts could yet stop promised Iraqi elections going ahead on time, Arab ministers said, despite Baghdad's confident assertion the landmark vote would be held on January 30. Iraq had somewhat upstaged a major international conference in Egypt on its future by announcing the date for the first post-Saddam Hussein elections a day before the meeting opened.But not everyone was impressed by its confidence.Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, hosting the conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh said the meeting would be deciding whether the vote could be held on time, adding that "the question needs to be re-examined. The debates that will take place ... are very important because they will look at the question of the elections and decide on whether they can take place on the date envisaged or whether it needs more reflection.""The unofficial position of Egypt is that this question should probably be examined indefinitely. Just in case we've missed anything." |
Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki, asked if the election date was not over-optimistic given the relentless violence in Iraq said: "Dates are not sacred. What is sacred is the process."| "Elections are truly a sacred process. For example, Jordan's next elections are scheduled for...what? Oh. Never mind." |
As Iraq faces its first democratic test for decades, violence is still plaguing the country on a daily basis and several Sunni Arab groups have said they will boycott the vote. Whether the Sunni Arab minority -- which dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein and previous regimes -- take part in large numbers will be a major factor in determining the credibility of the elections.| Sez the Sunni apologists. |
"It is important to assure participation in the elections of all the Iraqi forces, even if it is necessary to have another look at the date of the elections," said an Arab delegate to the conference, speaking on condition of anonymity. "If the elections took place but were boycotted, there would be a lack of equilibrium in the Sunni representation," he warned.| And that would be no fault of anybody's other than the non-voters, bub. |
The diplomat said that many Arab countries shared this view, even if they were not saying so openly."How many countries, Mr. Anonymous Hereditary Kleptocrat?"
"Many countries." |
Abul Gheit said that the possibility of a Sunni boycott would be raised with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan when he attends the conference on Tuesday. "He will be asked to give us an idea of what will be done in this respect, given that the United Nations is charged with helping to prepare the Iraqi election."| "We shall go to the United Nations and demand satisfaction. O Kofi, save us!" |
But the violence is also a major concern, raising questions about how democratic elections can be organized in a country where large bands of insurgents are still at large and capable of striking hard at civilians and security forces alike.| Stop funding and inciting the violence, then. |
"We support all the measures taken for the conduct of the elections with the participation of the factions of the Iraqi people," Jordanian government spokeswoman Asma Khodr said in Amman.| "Except the ones that would allow the Iraqi people to actually make a choice." |
But she added: "We are worried that the conditions could prevent the realisation of that objective ... The situation in Iraq worries us and we think it could have negative repercussions on holding the general elections on the date fixed." In Syria, the Ba'athist mouthpiece state-owned daily Ath-Thawra said that the Sharm el-Sheikh conference represented "the best chance for the international parties to affirm the importance of the United Nations and neighbouring countries" in organizing the elections. But it also warned: "The elections must take place on all Iraqi territory and not on 75 percent of the country as the United States hints at due to the insecurity in regions where resistance actions are taking place." |