The pledges made at the Sharm El-Sheikh summit could well be Iraq's last chance, writes Salah Hemeid Representatives of some 60 governments and international organisations, including the UN, the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, met last Thursday and Friday at the International Compact for Iraq Conference held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in a bid to help stabilise Iraq. Following intensive debates, despite diplomatic manoeuvring on the sidelines, the participants promised support which included a debt relief package of $30 billion as a precursor to helping establish a future Iraq that is stable, democratic and economically viable. A five-year Iraqi reconstruction plan was formally launched on Thursday at the high-level summit. The UN- sponsored plan offered help with development, reconstruction, aid and investment. Importantly, participants, who included Iraq's neighbours, members of the UN Security Council, the G8 and the EU, pledged help beyond verbal rhetoric by agreeing to set up working committees on problematic issues such as border security, refugees, and energy supply. However, the participants made it clear that they had preconditions for supporting Iraq. These involved the Iraqi government meeting certain criteria or benchmarks, including progress towards significant economic and political reform. In a final statement, following a second meeting on Friday, 19 points of mutual agreement by the participants were raised. These included stopping the flow of arms and foreign fighters into Iraq, and strengthening cooperation between the violence-wracked country and its neighbours in order to more effectively monitor control of mutual borders. The statement also pledged commitment to the principle of non-interference and increased support for Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's government in establishing an Iraqi security force which would be able to successfully "prepare the ground for the end of the multinational forces mandate". Iraq's neighbours also agreed to sponsor a future conference on national reconciliation, a sign of a grudging acceptance by Sunni Arab neighbours of the Shia-led government. It was hoped that the pledges of support might possibly prepare the groundwork for a resolution of Iraq's four year conflict and prevent its possible spillover into the region. However, the exact formula for resolving the civil war that has engulfed the country was a point of contention, with strongly differing opinions on this formula by conference delegates and the Iraqi government. The opinion of Baghdad was that the main stumbling block towards reconciliation and stability was the problem of security and terrorism. Iraq presented its own plan but resisted calls for a new reconciliation process and pressure to rehabilitate former members of Saddam Hussein's government. It wanted more cooperation and support from its neighbours -- and less interference. For their part, Arab countries were of the opinion that the core of the crisis was politically based, not primarily an issue of establishing security. The Sunni Arab world in general remains convinced that the winning formula should be based on a more thorough reconciliation process, which would centre around bringing more Sunnis into the political equation. The Sunnis, they argue, want a more equitable distribution of the country's enormous wealth, something the Shia militias worked against ever since they took power. Sunnis also want the constitution amended and several laws changed. This argument was reiterated by the Americans. On Monday, General David Petraes, the chief US commander in Iraq stated categorically that Iraq's long-term stability couldn't be achieved through military means, and that it required political reconciliation from the main ethnic groups in the country, the majority Shia, Sunnis and Kurds. In a briefing to journalists, Petraes noted that Al-Maliki's government remains focussed on "narrow agendas" which stand in the way of unity and crucial US- backed legislation, including the law to share Iraq's oil wealth. It remains to be seen whether both sides will keep their promises. Will Maliki use the momentum from the summit to press ahead on long-awaited political reforms and reconciliation? And will Iraq's neighbours and the international community also deliver on their pledges to help rebuild Iraq into a stable, unified and democratic country? Despite the mutual mistrust, some of the final conclusions reached at the conference contained hope, as well as some positive elements for Iraq's future. All participants conceded that they had failed to resolve the country's crisis, halt the indiscriminate bloodshed and get Iraq back on to its feet -- and that a fundamentally new approach forward was essential. However, in order to implement the necessary changes and follow through with the points of agreement reached at Sharm El-Sheikh, the UN Security Council needs to back them up with a binding resolution. It must also monitor their implementation by establishing an international contact group to oversee this process. Another needed measure would be to bring in Iraq's political groups into a national reconciliation process that would also be under UN auspices. A concrete political and security programme should also come out of this process. The prospective UN resolution and the new plan would provide for a transitional authority that will rewrite the constitution, as well as prepare for a future free and fair democratic election. During the transitional period Iraq could quite possibly be in need of foreign military support which should be made available. The third step should be a new regional security arrangement that will bring together Iraq and its neighbours into closer cooperation regarding combating terrorism, and countering other threats to regional security and stability. Such a system is crucially important, not only to ensure peaceful relations among the region's states, but also in order to safeguard the principles of sovereignty, non-intervention of one state in the internal affairs of another state and the fundamental right of political self- determination for their people. The political deadlock, spiralling violence, regional interference, refugee crises and failures of the US have all contributed to the necessity of international intervention. The application of international law could provide the guidelines to facilitate the achievement of these goals. This could be Iraq's best, and possibly last, chance to avoid an all-out civil war and the fragmentation of Iraq along ethnic and sectarian lines.
