Amid controversy over the almost all-inclusive Iraqi meeting in Cairo this week, Dina Ezzat wonders if the deal brokered by the Arab League can survive an on-the-ground reality check The synchronised flipping of the final document by the over 200 Iraqi political figures as it was read out by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa at the closing session of the three-day meetings hosted and sponsored by the Arab League -- preparatory for the Iraqi Accord Conference to be held at a later date -- was a sight to behold; a scene reflecting a rare moment of unity among otherwise discordant Iraqi factions. They came to Cairo this week to discuss prospects for a national accord, initiated by the Arab League. Double-checking each word of the final communiqué while it was being announced to the world, each Shia, Kurd and Sunni delegate wanted to make sure that their views were accurately reflected in the document. The four-page document, the result of numerous hours of arduous work, was described by Moussa and participants alike as but the first step in a long and rugged road towards ending Iraq's present ordeal. The communiqué, which "miraculously patch-worked the very conflicting views of the participating factions," was not produced, League officials readily admit, with equal levels of agreement on the part of all parties. It was "not just a matter of Sunnis versus Shias or Kurds versus Sunnis," said one Arab League source. "It was more complex than that: among the Sunnis some welcomed the final document more than others, and the same applies to different Shia groups." But at the end, Iraqis, Arab League officials and Egyptian as well as other Arab diplomats, all agree that the final communiqué issued on Monday, and preceded by weeks of collective and bilateral consultations, including the visit of Arab League secretary-general to Iraq last month, was the most that can be achieved at this stage -- a stage characterised by wide disagreements among different Iraqi protagonists, including those of the same ethnic and religious background. "The fact of the matter is that all those present at the meetings offered very different diagnoses of the Iraqi problem, and extremely varied views about what the future holds for their country," said Hesham Youssef, Moussa's chief of staff. According to Youssef, the real objective of the Cairo meetings was not to dilute the differences and merge conflicting views into one common outlook but rather to try to create an alphabet for a common language that could help, eventually, the conflicting parties reach a common assessment of the problem of their country and draft an agenda for the future. "This should hopefully facilitate the actual Accord Conference meeting that is set to convene in Iraq, most probably in Baghdad, during the last week of February," Youssef said. The "family photo" of all participating Iraqis posing by the main entrance gate of the League at the end of the conference which took the attending press corps recording the scene by surprise was marred by unmistakable tensed and apprehensive looks: while some smiled widely, others did not at all. The scene of the Arab League secretary-general flanked by two frowning men -- Harith Al-Dari, the senior Sunni leader, and Hamam Hamoudi, representative of the influential Shia leader Abdel-Aziz Al-Hakim -- was but evidence that the event, as Moussa announced at the closing press conference, was a "70 per cent success". At this press conference, Al-Dari stated his reservation regarding the reference made in the final statement to a "federal" Iraq. This prompted Al-Hakim's representative -- also during the press conference -- to stress the need for all Iraqis to show resolve in the battle against terrorism. The pulling and pushing to the very last minute of the event was a clear -- and to many predictable -- indication that tensions still prevail among the warring factions, despite photo ops, joint meals and the odd handshake that were all-but-forced by Moussa. In fact, as Al-Dari was telling reporters in Cairo that the "federal system" was added to please the Kurds, Al-Hakim told reporters in Baghdad the same evening that federalism also applies to Shia provinces in the south. "I do not understand this attitude. I thought we were supposed to try and show good will and focus on the implementation of the confidence-building measures discussed in the conference," Al-Dari reacted. By the time the Iraqi participants get back to their constituencies, they told their Arab League interlocutors, they would have to defend the decisions agreed upon in Cairo. Therefore, Arab League sources say, the language adopted in the communiqué had to be flexible enough for every party to attempt to interpret it to, or sell it to, his constituents. The only unambiguous vocabulary in the document was that expressing appreciation for the Arab League and the efforts of its secretary-general. "Terms of appreciation were the only thing people readily accepted," said an Iraqi delegate. The most ambiguous of all references, added the delegate, was that concerning "the legitimate right of all peoples to resistance" which neither specified any force against which this resistance is to be waged, for example "occupation", nor mentioned the Iraqi resistance directly. Compounding the matter further, the very same sentence urged prompt measures against terrorism in Iraq. This again, Arab League sources concede, was the maximum that could be achieved following three days of intense conferring and mediation; efforts which included, among other things, a four-hour working breakfast on Sunday where Moussa brought together 16 Iraqis, including Al-Dari and Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari, with the former insisting that even if labelled multinational forces mandated by UN Security Council resolutions, US troops in Iraq remain an occupying force, and the latter insisting that "the Shias who resisted the dictatorship and brutalities of Saddam for decades do not need lessons regarding resistance." Present in that breakfast were representatives of Iraqi Christians who made no effort to hide their unease with the growing Islamist nature of Iraq and their fear of having their country turn into a replica of Iran. The Kurds attending the breakfast naturally insisted that they would not tolerate any infringement on the federalism principle. The Sunnis wanted a clear reference to the resistance, the Shias wanted a clear condemnation of terrorism, and the Kurds wanted an endorsement of federalism. That was not all: the Sunnis urged clear mention of a timetable for the withdrawal of occupation forces, while both Shias and Kurds insisted that American troops will not be referred to as occupation forces and that while a tentative understanding was reached during the talks that the pull out of American forces should start within two years or so, no dates should be mentioned in the actual communiqué. At the end, all parties, including the representative of the charismatic Shia cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr -- who had initially insisted that no reference whatsoever should be made to the Iraqi resistance -- accepted multiple compromises. "At the end the communiqué mentions resistance. True, it does not refer to the Iraqi resistance, but it talks about the right of all peoples to resistance; this by definition includes the Iraqis," said Mozhir Al-Dulemi, a Sunni participant. Informed sources tell Al-Ahram Weekly that what the Sunnis got out of the whole event was considerable. They, the sources explain, now have two universally recognised representatives: Harith Al-Dari and Adnan Al-Duleimi. They also have the unequivocal support of Arab states who share their concern over a theological Shia state in Iraq. And they were promised generous financial aid. Such was the will to accommodate their concerns that even after the communiqué was announced the Sunnis were allowed to insert few lines asserting the Arab identity of Iraq. The Shias, for their part, were pleased to clinch an unequivocal condemnation of "terrorism," an allusion they use to describe all armed attacks, including resistance, issued from Cairo, the heartland of Sunni Islam. The Kurds were pleased with the repeated references made to the injustice they sustained under the rule of the toppled Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, and were satisfied yet more that their demand for federalism was recognised by the Arab League. For his part, six months away from the end of his five-year term in office, Moussa was clearly very pleased with achieving at least a partial success that many Arab commentators and politicians thought was difficult to attain. He was certainly pleased to prove to all critics of the Arab League, often blamed for failing the Iraqis, that his organisation can be instrumental in engineering a truth and reconciliation process. Moussa's negotiating team attributed this success to the will of all participating parties: "It was very obvious that all parties came to Cairo with the understanding that they would have to make certain compromises," said one of Moussa's assistants. He added, "naturally the compromises reflected the changed political reality in Iraq, where Shias and Kurds have a bigger say." The big question everybody is now pondering -- Moussa and the Iraqi delegates alike -- is whether or not the Cairo agreement will withstand tests on troubled Iraqi ground. In one early reaction, an Iraqi resistance group said that it was not awaiting recognition from anyone, but that it was pleased to see that all Iraqi factions are coming to agree on the withdrawal of American troops. A US State Department spokesman said Washington did not mind the Iraqi government talking to "insurgents", provided that this delivered stability in Iraq. Positive as this note might sound a lot still hangs in the balance, especially as Iraqi and Arab League sources say that there is no such thing as a united Iraqi resistance. Moreover, the offer made in Cairo by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to talk to resistance fighters if they were willing to put down their arms seemed to have been overruled by Al-Jaafari, the influential prime minister, who said hours after Talabani made the statement that both president and prime minister were governed by the law ratified by the National Assembly. There is also the question of who of the Baathists can be pardoned by the new regime. These and other thorny issues will be promptly dealt with by delegations of the Arab League and its secretary-general who is soon expected to nominate Mustafa Othman Ismail, the Sudanese presidential adviser, as the League's special envoy to Iraq, and by the conference's preparatory committee, to be presided over by Abdul-Aziz Belkhadem, the Algerian presidential adviser. Iraqi delegates and Arab League sources say that preparatory meetings that convened this week with adequate Iraqi representation and Arab and international support require serious follow up efforts to make sure that their outcome will not be undermined by the ongoing violence in Iraq and by growing regional tensions in neighbouring Syria and Iran. Quote-unquote Below are extracts of key political statements made during this week's preparatory meetings for the Iraqi Accord Conference due to be convened end of February "Our hearts bleed to see the continued bloodbath in Iraq and we are saddened by the absence of stability from this neighbourly country that can enjoy stability and prosperity... Today, more than ever before, Iraq needs a serious national dialogue among its people; a truly objective national dialogue that aims to the best interest of Iraqis and gives paramount priority to the future of Iraq... This is the responsibility of the Iraqi people." President Hosni Mubarak "What the Arabs wish to see is a strong and democratic Iraq whose leader is chosen by the collective will of all its people and whose policies are drawn by all Iraqis who can build a web of confidence and friendly relations amongst themselves and with their neighbours. What Arabs wish to see is an Iraq that can give the Arabs strength and takes its strength from Arabs whose unity offers the real security net for Iraq -- a kind of security that cannot be offered by any foreign army or, for that matter, any army, no matter how mighty, or any alliances, no matter how wide." Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa "While still in its construction phases, that are marked with many positive signs, the new Iraq opts for wide vistas of brotherly relations among all its people after it has removed all sentiments of injustice or unfairness and after it has imposed the rule of justice and equity as the sole arbitrator among all Iraqis who are building a state that observes the rule of law, human rights and democracy and that observes ethnic, religious, political and intellectual diversity." Iraqi President Jalal Talabani "Those who wish to carry the creed of Islam have to accept diversity and recognise the other... This is something that all political adversaries have to come to terms with... And those who wish to dialogue with the other cannot be party to schemes and acts of terror." Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari "It is the endless acts of brutality that we have always warned against that is making the resistance take a wider scale. This is something that we have warned previous governments of; and this is what we are warning current governments of." Sunni leader Harith Al-Dari
