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Iraq says neighbours fighting US on its soil

* Appoints 43 new ambassadors to countries around the world
* Excludes Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from the list

BAGHDAD: Iraqis may be paying the price of a desire by some neighbouring countries to fight the United States on their soil, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari warned on Monday.

The minister said he intends to have a “frank discussion” with Iraq’s neighbours at meeting in Cairo this week about the importance of a joint effort to secure national borders and combat terror and insecurity.

“I think what is happening regarding Iraq’s relations with its neighbours has other dimensions as some these countries may want to fight America in our country, but we end up paying the price,” Zebari said.

Both the caretaker government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and the US-led multinational forces in Iraq have blamed most of the attacks on foreign fighters and those allegedly linked to the Al Qaeda terror network such as Jordanian-born Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.

“Iraq’s neighbours must understand that if the unrest and instability in Iraq is not brought under control it will just flare up and spread to their backyards,” Zebari said.

Meanwhile, Iraq announced on Monday the appointment of 43 new ambassadors in its first move to re-engage the world less than a month after regaining sovereignty at the end of the US occupation. In announcing the move Zebari declined to name the ambassadors who are to be sent to a wide-range of countries, including many Arab nations. “This is the first step in restoring Iraq’s diplomatic representation,” he said. “Iraq is an important country and needs to have as much diplomatic relations as possible with the world.”

Many of the ambassadors will be appointed to the 31 Iraqi embassies around the world that are currently closed, Zebari said. Others will open new embassies.

The list of ambassadors took six months to compile and was created with an eye toward competency and political considerations, he said, in a country with deep ethnic and religious divides.

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which cut ties with Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in 1990, were not on the list of countries receiving an ambassador. Zebari said Iraq had recently received “good and positive signs” that diplomatic ties would soon be resumed with those neighbours.

During the news conference Zebari also criticised the United Nations, saying it was not living up to its commitment to help Iraq hold a national conference scheduled for later this month and elections scheduled to be held by January.

“In these two areas, organizing a national conference and holding elections, we do need the support of the UN,” he said. “We are a bit frustrated by the lack of speed by the United Nations in coming come to our aid and helping us in organizing and facilitating the convening of the national conference.” afp/ap

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