7 July 2008
Helsinki, Finland was a meeting place Saturday for Iraqi waring factions, organized by a U.S. professor skilled in conflict resolution, to try to resolve problems. It was a symbolic meeting as it may take decades to settle differences but agreement was reached on principles to guide future talks. There have been several meetings in Finland to try to reach a meeting of the minds. Attending were a range of Iraqi politicans. Also present were political leaders from Northern Ireland and South Africa who have resolved differences in their countries. It’s a small step in the right direction but not what the US hoped the surge would have allowed Iraqi politicians to resolve.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki wanted to declare the talks a success rather than continuing to discuss significant disagreements. This produced signs of discord. A number of other Iraqi leaders have begun to try to reach across sectarian and ethnic divides.
There will be no progress in Iraq until Sunnis, Shiites and other groups work together and until they take actions, such as, passing an oil law to spread the country’s wealth more evenly. The different factions in Iraq need to unite to help their country move forward. I repeat that experts say that it might take decades for Iraq to unite. It is now up to the Iraqi leaders to move forward but the meeting at least got them talking. It will be important that all groups be invited to participate in negotiations at some point.
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