AFP, BAGHDAD -
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed for Iraq’s help over the
conflict in Syria during a surprise trip to Baghdad on Sunday amid
claims of waning American clout barely a year after US troops left.
The one-day visit, the first to Iraq by a US secretary of state since
April 2009, will also focus on concerns in Washington that months of
protests in the country's Sunni-majority provinces will give militant
groups including Al-Qaeda room to maneuver.
It comes just days
after the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq that ousted
Saddam Hussein and sought to establish a stable democratic ally in the
heart of the Middle East, but has instead left a country still grappling
with deadly violence and endless political disputes.
Kerry met
with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and was to hold talks with
parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, to press Iraqi officials for
greater cooperation on isolating the regime of embattled Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad.
“It's good to catch up, it's good to see you again,” Kerry told Maliki.
Referring to his last visit in 2006, when he was a US senator and Iraq
was mired in brutal bloodshed, Kerry added, “I noticed things are calmer
than the last time I was here,” to which Maliki replied, “Inshallah
(God willing).”
Washington has accused Baghdad in particular of
turning a blind eye as Iran sends military equipment through Iraqi
airspace, flights which Tehran insists transport only humanitarian
supplies.
Kerry “will be very direct with Prime Minister Maliki
about the importance of stopping the Iranian overflights and the
transit across the territory, or at minimum, inspecting each of the
flights,” a State Department official said, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
“He himself, as secretary of state, is convinced
that they include weapons and fighters. ... This is dangerous for Iraq,”
the official added, while claiming that Iran was sending flights to
Syria almost daily.
Baghdad has announced the inspections of
two such flights, both in October 2012, but the New York Times reported
in December that Iran appears to have been tipped off by Iraqi officials
as to when plane inspections would be conducted, thus helping Tehran
avoid detection.
Iran has remained a steadfast ally of Assad's
regime despite the conflict in his country which according to the United
Nations has killed more than 70,000 people since it erupted in March
2011.
Kerry will also push for Iraq's Shiite-led government to
better engage with its Sunni Arab minority, which has been protesting
since December over the alleged targeting of their community by the
authorities.
In particular, he was to press Maliki to
reconsider a decision to postpone upcoming provincial elections,
scheduled for April 20, in two large Sunni-majority provinces.
He will also call on Nujaifi, a senior leader in the Sunni-backed
Iraqiya movement that is part of Maliki's unity cabinet but has
boycotted government meetings, to urge ministers to return to the table.
“Secretary Kerry will be talking with Prime Minister Maliki about the
importance of engaging with all elements of Iraqi society, with the
Sunnis, to work out how best to counter the very serious terrorist
threat that is (of) deep concern to Iraqis,” the official said.
A Western diplomat warned this month that Washington was concerned by
“the vacuum that it (protests in Sunni provinces) creates for Al-Qaeda
to come in and play a role.”
Kerry's visit comes amid claims of
declining American influence in Iraq, in particular following the
December 2011 withdrawal of US forces, and concerns that Baghdad's
Shiite neighbour Iran wields greater clout.
The American
mission to Iraq, however, remains the biggest in the world and US
officials have consistently disputed arguments that Washington's
influence is waning.
“The full withdrawal of the US military
... reduced our leverage,” Ryan Crocker, a former US ambassador to Iraq,
said in an address to the Carnegie Council in Washington on March 21.
“It is time to engage in a serious, sustained and high level manner and
through that engagement exert a greater influence with all the
parties.”
The visit to Iraq is Kerry's latest on a trip that
has taken him to Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan, all
alongside US President Barack Obama
وقد
صرح السيد مروان الطشاني رئيس المنظمة الليبية للقضاة أن ألانضمام
للتحالف ألافريقي للمحكمة الافريقية يعد خطوة هامة للمنظمة لفتح ابواب
التعاون والتواصل مع محيطها الافريقي وهو ما يفتح أفاق أقليمية جديدة
للمنظمة تساهم في تطوير أدائها وألارتقاء بعملها وهي فرصة جيدة للتعرف على
المحكمة وعملها وربما نرى في يوم قريب أحد القضاة الليبين يعمل بها .
