CAIRO: Bickering marred the first day of Iraqi reconciliation talks in Cairo yesterday, amid confessional tensions heightened by a strain of bloody sectarian attacks in the war-torn country.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa, whose organisation has recently stepped up its involvement in Iraq and sponsors the current talks, described the start of the three-day meeting as “an historic day launching the reconciliation process”.

The meetings are aimed at setting a date and agenda for a reconciliation conference to be held in Baghdad, but optimism over the unprecedented talks was dampened by exchanges of mutual recriminations.

“We have set a red line: there is no room for Baathists in Iraq,” Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari told the meeting, which was attended by around 100 Iraqi leaders and regional officials.

Jaafari echoed reservations voiced by the ruling Shia majority over the participation in reconciliation talks of former members of Saddam Hussain’s ousted Sunni-dominated regime.

Egypt and the Arab League had pressured the Iraqi government to allow former Baathists “with no blood on their hands” to be included in the talks.

“I appreciate Amr Moussa’s efforts that led to this meeting, but here’s what I tell him: it may be difficult to gather all the protagonists but it is even more difficult to deal with the reality on the ground, when the other is carrying arms and spilling blood,” Jaafari said.

The head of Iraq’s leading Sunni Muslim authority reacted angrily to Jaafari’s comments.

“Jaafari’s speech was characterised by a spirit of exclusion and he painted a rosy picture of the situation in Iraq,” said Hareth al-Dari, who heads the Committee of Muslim Scholars.

Dari described Jaafari’s opening speech as “disappointing words that do not lead us to believe we can reach a sincere understanding” and went on to accuse the regime of marginalising the disempowered Sunni minority.

Later, closed-door consultations at the League headquarters among Iraqi factions were abruptly interrupted when Shias and Kurds walked out after a Christian leader expressed a view they deemed offensive.

“The Iraqi constitution is a fabrication coming from the occupation forces,” delegates quoted Minas Ibrahim al-Yusufi as saying.

The head of the Iraqi Christian Democratic Party also said he had no objection to the inclusion in the talks of members of Saddam Hussain’s ousted regime.

“I’m not against any Iraqi participating, it’s a protection for our people, it’s an important step we have to take,” he told a reporter before the incident, which led Iraqi communist leader Hamid Majid Mussa to suggest a 10-minute break to let tempers cool.

The consultations soon resumed but as participants were deep in animated discussions, reports reached them of another suicide attack targeting Shias.

“Foreign armies and coalitions will not be able to achieve security in Iraq,” Moussa stressed.

Iraq’s Sunni minority has so far boycotted much of the post-war political process and consistently demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of the 170,000 US-led foreign troops.

Vice President Ghazi al-Yawar, a leading Sunni tribal leader, argued that the talks would have benefited from wider participation. “All Iraqis should be here if we want our problems to be solved,” he told reporters.

Government spokesman Leith Kubba was pleased with the list of participants, but said it was too early to tell whether reconciliation was under way.

“We don’t have too high expectations. The purpose of this meeting is to develop an agenda. If we reach an agreed agenda, this will already be a big step,” he said.

Some people attending the talks were optimistic.

“Maybe there are no major figures of the former regime but there are many leading Arab nationalists who were outside the process and against the occupation,” said Yonadam Kanna, head of Iraq’s Assyrian Democratic Movement.

“With the Iraqi elections on December 15 and this reconciliation effort we could be witnessing a turning point,” he said. – AFP