Arab Leaders Meet Rice, Renew Promises To Help In Iraq
By P. Parameswaran and Jailan Zayan
31 July 2007 (AFP)US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Arab leaders in Egypt on Tuesday, extracting renewed promises of help in Iraq and reaffirming Washington’s commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Rice, accompanied by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, met with foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf Cooperation Council states at the start of a regional tour aimed at countering Iran’s growing influence, notably in Iraq.
“We discussed how to support a unified Iraq where all Iraqis can live in peace and security,” Rice told journalists after the meeting that included top diplomats from GCC states Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
With Saudi Arabia accused of allowing Sunni militants into Iraq to fight US forces and Iran accused of equipping Iraqi Shiite militias doing the same, the parties called in a joint statement for “an end to all interference in Iraq.”
The statement called for the prevention of “the transit of terrorists to Iraq” and an end to the “supply of arms and training to the militia and extra-governmental groups” in the war-torn country.
Rice warned that if unnamed “determined enemies” were successful “then this whole region is going to be chaotic,” while Gates sought to allay what he said were regional fears of a precipitous US withdrawal from Iraq.
“There is clearly a concern … that the US would somehow withdraw precipitously from Iraq, or in some way that is destabilising to the entire region,” Gates said at a press conference with Rice.
But, he added, even those at home calling for US troops to quit Iraq were increasingly aware “of the need to take into account the consequences if we make a change in our policy and the dangers inherent in doing it unwisely.”
And amid renewed impetus to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Rice and the Arab foreign ministers reiterated their commitment to a two-state solution, including an end to Israel’s occupation of Arab lands captured in 1967.
Rice also said a number of initiatives, including an Arab League peace plan, needed to be pulled together ahead of a Mideast peace conference called for by US President George W. Bush and tentatively slated for September.
“We really don’t want to have a meeting for the sake of having a meeting,” Rice said.
However, Rice and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit sought to play down Monday’s announcement of a multi-billion-dollar military aid bonanza for Washington’s friends in the region, which Iran is accused of “destabilising.”
“The US is looking to assure our allies that we are going to be reliable for meeting their security needs,” Rice said of the new military pacts worth 20 billion dollars (14.6 billion euros) for Saudi Arabia, 13 billion dollars for Egypt and 30 billion for Israel.
The arms package for other Gulf states is reportedly worth at least 20 billion dollars, although the United States says the precise figure is still undecided.
Abul Gheit said he was “amazed” at the attention being paid to the arms gifts, “because military assistance to Egypt has been an earlier relation that lasted for the past 25 years.”
Rice had earlier dismissed Iran’s charges that the arms package would create fear and harm relations between countries in the Middle East.
“I think if there is a destabilisation of the region, that can be laid at the feet of an Iranian regime that is engaging in the kind of activities that I just outlined,” she said.
On her way to Egypt she accused Iran of fuelling terrorism in Lebanon, backing Shiite militias in Iraq, aiding Hamas in the Palestinian territories and harbouring ambitions of acquiring nuclear weapons.
But Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini accused the US of having always had “a special policy of spreading fear in the region and tarnishing existing good relations” between countries in the Middle East.”
And the Islamic republic’s defence minister, Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, accused the US of “trying to create a false arms race, in order to keep their weapon factories up and running.”
Oman said on Sunday that Iran did not pose a threat to the Gulf region.
“Iran is a neighbouring state and we have a common interest, which is to maintain stability and security in the region,” said Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the Omani minister responsible for foreign affairs.
US President George W. Bush accuses Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran insists its atomic programme is purely peaceful.
Gates and Rice later traveled to Saudi Arabia, for talks with King Abdullah, before making separate trips elsewhere in the region. Iraq Updates