Posted on 09/04/2007 5:19:56 PM PDT by bobsunshine
Iraqi Sunni and Shiite delegates made progress at secret peace talks in Finland, negotiators said Tuesday, cautioning that their Northern Ireland-inspired agreement would have to be endorsed by top leaders in Baghdad to have any chance of succeeding.
Organizers said the four-day meeting at an undisclosed location in Finland brought together high-level delegates from the feuding groups to study lessons learned from successful peacemaking efforts in South Africa and Northern Ireland. The talks ended Monday with all parties agreeing on a list of principles to start negotiations to end sectarian violence.
"And at the end of our discussions, we had a tremendous breakthrough," Sinn Fein deputy leader Martin McGuinness, one of the Northern Ireland politicians attending the talks, told The Associated Press. "All of the participants committed themselves to work towards a robust framework for a lasting settlement."
In a reminder of the obstacles facing any agreement, however, the Iraqi participants were not identified for security reasons and insurgent groups were not represented. There also was no apparent groundbreaking agreement reached apart from pledges to work toward peace.
Padraig O'Malley, a University of Massachusetts professor who took the initiative for the talks, said the delegates carried "considerable clout" and were hand-picked by Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and Shiite Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi.
"What matters is not that that agreement was reached, but what happens now with that piece of paper," O'Malley said. "What happens next depends on a multitude of variables. The most important is the seriousness with which the two vice presidents take the recommendations."
The Iraqi delegates agreed on a list of 12 recommendations and nine political objectives, ranging from the disarmament of armed groups during peace talks to the establishment of an independent commission to "deal with the legacy of the past."
They also included sending coalition troops home — once Iraqi security forces are ready to replace them.
"There was across-the-board unanimity for the occupation of Iraq to end," O'Malley said. "That was tempered by the realization that if all coalition troops left tomorrow morning there would be a power vacuum that probably would result in a bloodbath."
The U.S. or other governments were not involved in the talks because the Iraqis did not want outside interference, he said.
O'Malley said insurgent groups did not participate in the talks but that efforts were being made to involve them in a second round of negotiations.
The deal in Finland was based on pledges agreed to in Northern Ireland — including the rejection of violence — before peace talks began in 1997.
McGuinness said the Iraqis were impressed by the recent power-sharing agreement between major Catholic and Protestant parties in Northern Ireland.
"We are now hopeful that this process will continue," he said. "I think that the quality and quantity of people there indicate to us that a very serious attempt is going to be made by political parties, and others in Iraq, to bring the conflict to an end."
sounds promising - now let’s hope there can be some serious implementation - boy will our Demagogues suffer a meltdown if/when there is continued progress and improvement in Iraq.....
The Defeatocrats cannot stand the idea of anything except US retreat and defeat.
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