Roundup: Riyadh Conference Agree on Essential Issues of Post-war Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, April 20, 2003

Roundup: Riyadh Conference Agree on Essential Issues of Post-war Iraq

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The foreign ministers of countries neighboring Iraq ended their emergency regional meeting here early Saturday by agreeing on "essential issues" concerning the post-war Iraq, including principles of establishing a new legitimate government and the United Nations' central role.

Foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the host country, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Jordan and Kuwait, all bordering Iraq, plus Egypt and Bahrain, the current Arab League chairman, attended the conference which opened on Friday afternoon, the first regional forum on the post-war Iraq.

A joint statement issue after the conference said Iraq's neighbors do not intend or accept any interference in Iraq's internal affairs, thus guaranteeing that the new Iraqi government will be established according to the will of the Iraqi people.

The foreign ministers also underlined "the obligations of the occupation powers under the Fourth Geneva Convention to maintain security and stability, withdraw from Iraq and allow the Iraqis to exercise their right to self-determination."

The foreign ministers hoped "an early establishment of a broad-based and fully representative government in Iraq, in accordance with a constitution to be agreed upon and ratified by the people of Iraq, an Iraq living in peace with its neighbors."

They also expressed their countries' disagreement with allegations directed toward Syria and support Damascus' initiative before the Security Council to establish the Middle East a zone free from weapons of mass destruction.

The emergency meeting was called by the oil rich Gulf country of Saudi Arabia after the kingdom's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal made a surprise visit to Damascus on Monday for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Syrian, Iran and Egypt held a similar regional conference on January 23 in Istanbul, Turkey, in a bid to prevent the US-led war on Iraq.

Despite decades of mutual mistrust, the eight countries, considering the current political vacuum in Iraq and its impact to neighboring countries, finally chose to meet to seek a common stance.

Except Syria and Iran, the other six countries are on good term with the United States, some of them are traditional allies of Washington. Therefore, although they share disputes with Washington on Iraq war, the wording of the joint statement was quite "moderate" and did not present a timetable for the withdrawal of US and British coalition forces from Iraq.

For the post-war Iraq situations, each neighbor of Iraq has its own concerns. The primary concern of Syria and Iran is how to avoid being Washington's next target, Turkey, with its own Kurdish minority, fears Kurdish power growing in northern Iraq.

The major oil-producers of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait concerned about the flooding of Iraqi oil into world market, which might cause price drop and bring serious consequences to their own economy.

Analysts said with US-British troops occupying Iraq, and the US allegations that Syria possesses weapons of mass destruction and shelters Saddam Hussein's senior officials, new situation emerges in the region. These developments show the situation will remain volatile for quite some time. The proposal for a meeting of nations bordering Iraq therefore indicates that these countries are now feeling the heat of war and they are concerned about the future of the area.

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