Iraqi national conference to be held on Sunday

The Iraqi interim government announced Thursday that the national conference is to be held as scheduled on Sunday despite a radical Shiite uprising in central and southern Iraq.

"The Iraqi national conference will be held at its scheduled date. It will be held next Sunday and all the procedures are being carried out in order to secure its safety," Iraq's Minister of State Qassim Dawoud told a news conference in Baghdad.

"We invite everyone to take part in the political process," Dawoud said.

The national conference was due to be held last month, but was delayed after many important factions said they planned to boycottit.

Considered a key step on the road to democracy, the conference to be attended by 1,000 representatives will choose 100 persons toform an interim National Assembly to take responsibilities until the holding of the direct general elections next January.

The assembly will be responsible for advising the government, reviewing the policies it follows, forming committees, and objecting to some of the decisions of the interim government, through the approval of two thirds of the members.

It will also be responsible for appointing alternative leadership in case one of the leaders dies or resigns, and it will approve the budget for the Iraqi government for 2005.

The United States on Thursday hailed the forthcoming Iraqi National Conference as "an important and noteworthy development" in the country.

"It's an important milestone on the path to a fully representative democracy in Iraq," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said at a regular news briefing.

"We're looking forward to doing what we can to support both the government of Iraq and the UN as they work together to bring together over a thousand Iraqis to debate the future of their democracy," Ereli said.

A joint military operations by US troops and Iraqi security forces against Shiite Muslim militiamen in the central city of Najaf will continue, Defence Minister Hazem al-Shaalan said Thursday.

"The operations are continuing in the city and will continue until the militia is forced to withdraw out of the city or they surrender to Iraqi authorities and benefit from the amnesty law which announced by the prime minister," al-Shaalan told reporters.

Clashes flaring up across Iraq have left at least 165 people dead and about 600 wounded over the past 24 hours, the Iraqi Health Ministry said Thursday.

US bombing in the Shiite-dominated al-Sharkiya district of Kut,some 170 km south of Baghdad, has killed 75 and wounded 148 others.

Another 44 died and 164 were wounded in clashes between US forces and fighters loyal to firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in the capital, a ministry spokeswoman said.

Clashes pitting US forces and Sadr's Mehdi Army in Najaf wore into the second week, with a major US military offensive looming.

The United Nations Security Council adopted unanimously on Thursday a US-British draft resolution extending the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq for 12 months.

Resolution 1557, passed by a 15-0 vote, provided for a review of the UN mission in 12 months or sooner if requested by the Iraqi government. The mission's current mandate expires on Friday.

The resolution reaffirmed that the United Nations "should play a leading role in assisting the Iraqi people and government in the formation of institutions for representative government."

Pakistani Ambassador to the UN Munir Akram told reporters after the vote that the adoption of the resolution was a "necessary decision."

"This is obviously an indication of the continued commitment ofthe United Nations and the Security Council to play a role in bringing peace and stability to Iraq," he said.

The UN would also send a team led by veteran Pakistani diplomat Ashraf Qazi to attend Iraq's national political conference on Aug.15

Source: Xinhua