Stay out of our polls, Iraq warns Iran as vote concerns mount BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq's interim president accused Iran of meddling in the Iraqi election process, adding to mounting concerns about the viability of landmark vote scheduled for January 30.
Ghazi al-Yawar said Iran was coaching candidates sympathetic to Tehran and pouring "huge amounts of money" into the Iraqi election campaign in the hope of producing a loyal Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad.
The comments by the president highlighted a new cause of concern one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin bluntly remarked he could not imagine how elections could go ahead in Iraq under the "total occupation" of foreign troops.
But US President George W. Bush once again scotched any notion that the elections could be delayed, despite issuing a warning that violence was set to escalate ahead of the vote.
"The terrorists will do all they can to delay and disrupt free elections in Iraq, and they will fail," he said at a California military base. "Free elections will proceed as planned."
After a brief lull following the US-led assault to defeat insurgents in the city of Fallujah, violence has continued with the number of US military personnel killed in action since the invasion now about 1,000.
A major worry ahead of the vote is that the more unstable Sunni Muslim areas in the west of the country will not be ready to go to the polls, creating an imbalance with the relatively stable strongholds of the majority Shiites.
The comments by Yawar, himself a Sunni, made in an interview to the Washington Post and echoed by Jordan's King Abdullah II, further underlined concerns that Iran's alleged role in the vote could widen the Sunni-Shiite split.
Iran's Shiite theocratic regime has consistently denied charges of interfering in Iraq, where 60 percent of the population are Shiites.
"Unfortunately, time is proving, and the situation is proving, beyond any doubt that Iran has very obvious interference in our business -- a lot of money, a lot of intelligence activities and almost interfering daily ... especially in the southeast side of Iraq," said Yawar, who backs holding the elections on time.
The Jordanian monarch was even more explicit about Iran's aims.
"It is in Iran's vested interest to have an Islamic republic of Iraq ... and therefore the involvement you're getting by the Iranians is to achieve a government that is very pro-Iran," he told the same daily.
Two days before registration for the election closes, four Iraqi Sunni political movements have registered for the vote, although close to 70 Sunni organisations have threatened a boycott.
That these four have registered indicates that the Sunni political elite -- who have been in power since Iraq's creation -- have resigned themselves to taking part despite calls for a delay and fears of losing out to the Shiites.
Even the party headed by elder statesmen Adnan Pachachi, the leading light behind a Sunni campaign to postpone the January 30 polls for six months, has thrown its hat into the ring.
Meanwhile, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon was visiting British forces in the southern city of Basra, just days after a battle group returned from a controversial deployment near Baghdad.
Hoon was meeting members of the Scottish Black Watch regiment whose 850-member battle group returned to base Saturday after a controversial month-long deployment which left five of their members dead.
Britain has about 8,500 troops in relatively calm southern Iraq, around Basra, compared to 138,000 US troops in the centre and north. The ministry of defence indicated that Hoon's visit would last several days.
Another high-profile visitor to Iraq Wednesday was South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun who met some of Seoul's contingent in the Kurdish northern town of Arbil for two hours before heading home.
"Thank you all so much. It may be a short meeting, but it is such a happy time," he was quoted as telling applauding soldiers at a mess hall.
Violence continued to simmer on the ground with at least one policeman killed in an attack by armed men against a police station in Samarra, north of Baghdad, and three people wounded in a bomb blast in the Iraqi capital.
Assailants in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday targeted the country's minority Christians by setting off explosions in two churches -- one of them Chaldean, the other Armenian. There were no casualties.
Pope John Paul II condemned the bombings before pilgrims in Rome's St Peter's Square and prayed "that the dear Iraqi people can finally know a period of reconciliation and peace".
Against the background of violence and political rows over its future, one of Iraq's post-war success stories was again in the spotlight when Australia said it would host a football international against the national team on March 26.
Iraq's team inspired the country when it reached the semi-finals of the Athens Olympics and also managed to get to the quarter finals of the Asian Cup.
People inspect damage done to the Chaldean Christian church in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday Dec. 8, 2004. Militants bombed two churches in Mosul on Tuesday, injuring three people in a coordinated attack. (AP Photo)
A Chaldean nun walks through debris of the Chaldean church in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday Dec. 8, 2004. Militants bombed two churches in Mosul on Tuesday, injuring three people in a coordinated attack. (AP Photo)
Chaldean Bishop Paul Faraj Rahho, far left, stands in the debris of the Chaldean church in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday Dec. 8, 2004. Militants bombed two churches in Mosul on Tuesday, injuring three people in a coordinated attack. (AP Photo)
People stand around a crater caused by an explosive device as a US armored personel carrier drives by on Baghdad's outskirts Wednesday Dec. 8, 2004. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
People stand by two trucks damaged after a roadside bomb exploded on the Baghdad's outskirts Wednesday Dec. 8, 2004, Iraq. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)