Iraq criticises US talks with armed groups

US Secretary of State Mrs. Hillary Clinton

BAGHDAD, Saturday

Iraq criticised the United States yesterday for holding talks with Iraqis that Baghdad describes as terrorists, delivering a rebuke to Washington during a visit by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to the US capital.

Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said US officials, as part of efforts to end the insurgency in Iraq, had met with envoys from armed groups without notifying Iraqi authorities.

“There must be Iraqi government approval. Any action from any side, including the United States, without Iraqi government approval is not accepted,” Dabbagh said, adding that Iraq rejected negotiations with “terrorists” and “killers.”

He said Iraq was not committed to any deals US officials had made with such opposition groups.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, seeking to lower tensions over the dispute, said after meeting Maliki in Washington that she was only recently told of the talks and promised to keep Iraq’s government “fully informed” in the future.

“We want to be sure that we have a very close working relationship and a very clean line of communication and that’s what we will do going forward,” she said at a joint news conference with Maliki.

In a TV interview last week, Ali al-Jubouri, an Iraqi identified as head of the Political Council of the Iraqi Resistance, said his Sunni Muslim group had held two rounds of talks with US officials, one in March and one in May.

He said the United States had signed a deal recognising his group, but negotiations had since broken down.

Formal apology
The group’s demands included a formal US apology for the 2003 invasion, compensation and the release of all Iraqi prisoners. Asked about such a deal, Mrs Clinton said no US officials had been authorised to sign anything. She declined further comment.

For his part, Maliki also sought to play down the controversy, but stressed the need for “constant dialogue.”

“I am quite satisfied in terms of what I have heard on this issue and I have been given a commitment that the (Obama) administration will not negotiate or reach agreements with those who killed American soldiers, Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi people,” said Maliki through an interpreter.

source.nation.ke