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Secret Deal for Roadmap to Peace Bears Stamp of Ulster
Agreement between Sunnis, Shias and N Ireland politicians
Representatives from Sunni and Shia groups in Iraq agreed on a road map to peace based on the experience in Northern Ireland after four days of secret talks in Finland, reconciliation group the Crisis Management Initiative said last night.
The meeting brought together 16 delegates from the feuding groups to study lessons learned from successful peacemaking efforts in South Africa and Northern Ireland. The factions were convened by the John W McCormack graduate school of policy studies at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. The former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari organised the seminar but was not present.
"Participants committed themselves to work towards a robust framework for a lasting settlement," a statement issued by CMI said. It added that the participants "agreed to consult further" on a list of 12 recommendations to begin reconciliation talks including resolving political disputes through non-violence and democracy.
Politicians from Northern Ireland including the unionist Jeffrey Donaldson and the Sinn Féin leader Martin McGuinness also attended the talks.
The recommendations included disarming feuding factions and forming an independent commission to supervise this "in a verifiable manner".
Mr Donaldson said: "Agreement has been reached on the way forward between the parties, and they are now going back to Iraq with these proposals."
Among the groups reportedly at the talks were 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.
But it was not clear last night what influence these representatives have or whether they were committed to bringing their organisations on side.
There are some tentative signs of political reconciliation within Iraq, even though the government seems unable to make any big decisions due to sectarian disputes.
Government sources said they welcomed any effort to bring the factions together, but said they had not been officially involved in the discussions.
South Africa was represented by members of Nelson Mandela's first unity government following the end of apartheid: African National Congress activist Mac Maharaj and National Party reformer Roelf Meyer.
The agreement called for all parties to be involved in the reconciliation process and to accept the results of the negotiations while working "to end international and regional interference" in Iraq.
Political objectives of the agreement included moving away from sectarian and ethnic disputes, halting the displacement of Iraqi refugees and ending the presence of foreign troops according to a "realistic timetable".
The participants also agreed to deal with militias by arming and training security forces to become "an effective national force", while fostering economic development across the country.
Members of armed groups that "are not classified as terrorist" would be encouraged to adopt "peaceful political means" and given jobs within the state administration.
Mr Ahtisaari and his group have facilitated peace talks for other conflicts. In 2005 he helped end 30 years of fighting between Aceh rebels and the Indonesian government with peace talks in Finland, which he initiated and mediated with CMI.
The 12-point plan
1. Resolve political issues through non-violence and democracy.
2. Prohibit use of arms while in talks.
3. Form independent commission to disarm groups in verifiable manner.
4. Accept results of negotiations.
5. End international interference.
6. Commit to protect human rights.
7. Assure independence and effectiveness of the law and courts, especially constitutional court.
8. Full participation of all parties in political process and governance.
9. Take all steps to end violence, killings, forced displacement and damage to infrastructure.
10. Establish independent body to explore how to deal with the past in way which will unite nation.
11. Support efforts to make political process successful and to protect Iraq's unity and sovereignty.
12. Participating groups commit to principles as complete set of rules.
© 2007 The Guardian
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12 Comments so far
Show All"The 12-point plan:
5. End international interference."
How did this become #5 on the list? One would think that outside interference should be the first to go!
as an old boss once told me.........."talk is cheap....it takes money to buy whiskey"......
it's still going to come down to oil in iraq
by the way......that old boss died of liver disease
This a very encouraging sign-which could lead to a negotiated settlement that will create a framework for peace and democracy-but the presence of U.S.
troops and how to disconnect them from their stranglehold on the resources of Iraq, and U.S military positioning of their forces, will be a barrier to the implementation of any independent settlement. I suggest that these and other negotiations and their subsequent evolution as policy and praxis be implemented as part of my seven-point plan which can be viewed on my blog.
Of course nihilistic idiots without any vision for ending this war will always whine about the power of pour Empire and the implacability of the situation due to our malfeasance and global criminality.
I say: We all know this but what do we do next to save the lives of all those who will die while we rant and rave.
Something must be done to end this war.
Saying it is wrong is not enough !
Its good that they're working on this subject, but don't be too impressed by the comparison with Northern Ireland. It's relatively peaceful there now because 30 years of bloodshed resulted in stalemate, while the rest of Europe moved into an era of relative prosperity. There are vast differences between Northern Ireland in the late 90s and Iraq today.
13: No agreement concerning Iraq's principal natural resource, oil, will be negotiated until a free, independent, unoccupied, sovereign Iraq is a factual reality.
I will be looking to see if MSM even mentions this Helsinki-type initiative. Won't hold my breath though.
The USA has to get the hell out of the way. Looks like the bastards in charge of the USA are very attached to the idea of holding onto their humongous new embassy/village and the new permanent military bases in Iraq. David seems to be knocking the sh__ out of Goliath. Goliath better get his big butt out before he looses it.
We can bomb the whole middel East untill they like us enough to be made in our IMAGE. The USA will sell thier oil when and how much and to what country. That will work,just as it would if they toled us who to trade with.
Bu$h the inferior, the neocons, arms contractors and the multinational corporations live in abject fear of these 12 simple rules.
If all factions with a disagreement did this there would be a boom in prosperity for everyone. It would not be a utopia but hard work and learning. Progress would seem slow but there would be much less collapse and recover.
Of course, there would be no victory, no crushing opponents and swaggering jackasses like Bu$h the inferior as president.
We can bomb the whole middel East untill they like us enough to be made in our IMAGE?
man......
shutup!
Goliath is falling... hopefully he will get up again but it will be awhile. Arrogance is a mean bed mate.
It seems the only path to reconciliation requires the US to withdraw or at least to not participate in negotiations and to plan for withdrawal. Everyone in Iraq knows what too few Americans know -- the whole invasion was an armed robbery, intended to allow US oil companies to get the lion's share of the oil profits from PSA's and for other US corporations to buy up Iraq's other assets for pennies on the dollar through privatization. Bush will only voluntarily withdraw if the Iraqis agree to the robbery, i.e. make "progress" on the benchmarks, which include all the elements of the robbery.
It is as if an armed robbery went badly and now the Iraqi people are being held hostage, at gunpoint, by American troops until they agree to give up all their property. And the Iraqi resistance to that robbery has not only showed once again that Mao was right, the US is a "paper tiger," but it has also renewed my faith in the human race.
Hoping that this WILL come out more!
Tell everyone you know. It seems that a widely known thing is accepted as reality, even when it is NOT the truth (i.e. BU**SH** spin [i.e. lies]).
Write to your local papers, the national media ... your cousin ...
A few useful links that make it easier.
http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/dbq/media/
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=111
http://www.newslink.org
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/pickMedia.jsp?
Online forms are available, or better yet, select to send a letter - it will be put into the proper form and you can print it out. Send them the whole article.
This could be great, positive news! Why d'ya think Bu**sh** showed up in Iraq, trying so hard again to claim that HIS influence is what is making a difference? In Anbar, it is the local population that is creating the change - NOT THE US MILITARY!
Peace! Love the Earth and She'll love you back.