Conference on rebuilding Iraq
Brussels (AsiaNews/agencies) A conference on rebuilding Iraq opened this morning in Brussels to map out the country's future and to urge members of the international community to honour past pledges of economic and military support. Participating in the meeting are UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and representative from 80 countries, including the US, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Kuwait.
The two years since the fall of Saddam Hussein have seen the slow reconstruction of Iraq amid multiple difficulties and insecurities.
After the 30 January elections, boycotted by terrorists and part of the Sunnite community, the political world sought to bring the Sunnites on board in the reconstruction process and in the re-writing of the constitution. Last week, an agreement was reached on how many Sunnites will sit on the committee of the drafting of the new constitution.
The United States and the European Community wanted to hold the conference as an attempt to bridge the rift between the two sides of the Atlantic over management of the Iraqi crisis and also to help the country arrive at elections next year.
Some observers say the meeting will allow Iraq to benefit from a massive cancellation of its debt; from the Saddam era, Iraq accumulated more than 120 billion US dollars. Tens of billions were cancelled last year, with some reservations from France and Russia.
The country still needs the international community. Prime Minister Al Jafaari declared that Iraq "needs help in basic services like economic infrastructure, health and security". Meanwhile, Finance Minister, Ali Allawi, said the problem of corruption has diminished in Iraq.
Corruption and security are the two reasons preventing many states from delivering promised aid. Thanks to violence and corruption, only a tiny part of the 15 billion dollars pledged by countries around the world (excluding the USA) have reached Iraq. The United States has allocated 18 billion dollars in aid, but they are tied to projects whose progress has been slowed because of insecurity. The infiltration of terrorists from Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia is one problem contributing to heightened insecurity. Next month, a donor conference will be held in Amman to accelerate the pace of transfer of donations.
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