Iraqi groups to hold national reconciliation conference

AMMAN, Jordan – A delegation of Iraqi lawmakers met with a newly formed group of Iraqi political activists in the Jordanian capital on Monday and agreed to hold a national reconciliation conference next month, a leader of the advocacy group said.

The conference will be Nov. 15 in Baghdad under the auspices of the Iraqi prime minister, said Hassan al-Bazzaz, secretary-general of the Patriotic and National Forces Movement opposition group.

The movement was formed by both Sunni and Shiite Muslims and includes Iraqi politicians, former military officers, former leaders of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party, intellectuals and tribal chiefs representing most of Iraq’s ethnic and religious factions.

Created in Amman in August, it is headed by prominent tribal leader Hamid al-Gaoud of Anbar province – where many insurgents are based – and aims to help promote Iraqi unity and end the bloodshed.

Its leader has denounced the U.S.-led occupation and has called for the “liberation of Iraq.” However, al-Gaoud also said in August the movement is willing to establish ties with the United States, Britain, Europe and Arab countries based on “mutual understanding and peaceful means.”

The group held two-day talks, which ended Monday at the Iraq Embassy in Jordan, with a government delegation, which was headed by lawmaker Saleh al-Fayadh, said al-Bazzaz, a professor of political science at Baghdad’s university.

The reconciliation conference was initiated by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to discuss a 24-point plan to heal the nation’s severe political wounds.

Al-Bazzaz said his group, called Heqooq – or “rights” – in Arabic, supported the prime minister’s initiative and sensed that the Iraqi government has “true intentions of reconciliation.”