McGuinness explains Iraqi faction talks
Tuesday, 04 Sep 2007 11:45
Thousands of people have died in sectarian violence in Iraq since the US-led 2003 invasion
Northern Ireland's deputy first minister Martin McGuinness has shed some light on talks between senior Stormont members and representatives of Iraq's warring Sunni and Shia Muslim factions.
The Sinn Fein MP said he was "very pleased" with the closed-door discussions in Finland, which also involved politicians from South Africa.
Organised by the John McCormack graduate school of policy at the University of Massachusetts and the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), the talks were aimed at helping Iraq's disparate factions come to a peaceful agreement for the future of their country.
Speaking to the Today programme, Mr McGuinness insisted that "no assertion" was made that the sectarian violence seen in Ireland in the past was the same as in Iraq.
But he added that there were "common positions that everyone should accept, and that is that conflict needed to be brought to an end and that there should be an inclusive process of negotiations".
"And I'm very pleased to say that participants committed themselves to work towards a robust framework for a lasting settlement and they have agreed to a set of recommendations to start negotiations to reach national reconciliation," Mr McGuinness said.
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, security and stability in the Middle Eastern state has proved impossible to attain, with sectarian violence at times plunging the country to the brink of civil war.
Mr McGuinness claimed that the individuals present at the talks in Finland were "very, very key players" who would be "reporting back to the highest levels".
"I can't identify the individuals because that's something that they should do themselves; the situation in Iraq is a very dangerous situation," he explained.
"But I believe that the people who were there were there with the full support of all the politicians and their parties and these parties are the key parties in Iraq at this time."