Iraqi authorities abruptly put off a national conference of political, religious and civic leaders considered a crucial step on the road to democracy amid disarray over choice of delegates and boycott threats by key factions.
The announcement on Thursday came a day after a car bombing killed 70 people, the worst single attack since US officials transferred power to an interim Iraqi government.
The national conference, which had been scheduled to start today, appeared to be far behind schedule even before the two-week delay was announced. No venue had been disclosed and there were no outward signs in Baghdad of preparations for the 1,000-person gathering.
Conference organizers insisted they were ready to start, but agreed to the postponement at the request of UN officials, who wanted time to encourage wider participation and prepare for the meeting.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the decision to postpone the conference, stressing the need to take the time to prepare properly and encourage wider participation.
"The secretary-general believes that a well-prepared national conference can provide a much-needed opportunity for Iraqi political forces and civil society," spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.
Officials hope the conference, which is to elect an interim national assembly, will give Iraqis faith in their government and isolate the insurgents who have carried out a 15-month campaign of bombings, assassinations and kidnappings.
One insurgent group linked to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said on Thursday that it had kidnapped a Somali truck driver and would behead him if his Kuwaiti company did not stop working in Iraq.
Another group threatened to behead one of seven foreign truck drivers it was holding in 24 hours if its string of demands, which included a pullout by their company, were not met.
Another militant Islamic group posted an Internet warning that threatened any Muslim or Arab nation that contributed troops to a Saudi-proposed Muslim force for Iraq -- a proposal supported by US officials and Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
"Our swords will be drawn in the face of anyone who cooperates with the Jews and the Christians," the group said in a statement posted on Thursday.
"We will strike with an iron fist all the traitors from the Arab governments who cooperate with the Zionists, secretly or openly," it said.
A US soldier was killed on Thursday in clashes north of Baghdad, and a Polish soldier died in a roadside bombing.
The former's death raises the number of US personnel killed in Iraq since the war began to at least 909.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said yesterday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species. Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae. As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom’s crucial fish-farming industry. Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000kg of blackchin tilapia from February to Wednesday last week, said Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, vice president of a parliamentary
RSS