Where’s Condi?

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq has urged envoys from 16 regional and world powers — including the United States and its arch foe Iran and Syria — to forge a common front against international terrorism.

As mortar blasts and sporadic gunfire echoed around Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-MalikiMaliki welcomed delegates from neighbouring countries and from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to a conference on Saturday.

The talks at the Iraqi foreign ministry were designed to persuade the Middle East’s main players to cut off support from the illegal factions in Iraq’s civil war and launch a regional consensus on security cooperation.

“We wish to have our neighbours’ support for confronting terrorism,” said Maliki in his opening address to the assembled diplomats, warning that the violence gripping Iraq could spread throughout the region.

Terrorism “is an international epidemic, the price of which is being paid by the people of Iraq, and our country is on the frontline of confrontation.

“It needs to be met by an international stand and more importantly, a stand by which our brethren and neighbours support Iraq in this battle, which involves all states of the region,” he added.

Following the opening address, envoys repaired for closed-door talks.

US commanders accuse Iranian agents of smuggling weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq, including components for lethal roadside bombs that have been blamed for the deaths of at least 170 US soldiers since May 2004.

They also accuse Syria of allowing Sunni Arab extremists to cross its borders to join Al-Qaeda-linked groups fighting in Iraq.

Officials of Iraq’s Shiite-led government in turn accuse figures from the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia of funding Sunni insurgent groups.

All five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — were taking part, along with the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

Most were represented simply by their ambassadors in Iraq, but the United States also sent David Satterfield, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s top adviser on Iraq.

From the region Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey sent representatives.

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