IN TEHRAN, MAS’OOD BARZANI MEETS IRAQI OPPOSITION LEADERS
TEHRAN 7 Dec. (IPS) Mr. Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP), the major Iraqi Kurdish movement in northern Iraq, is
expected to be in Tehran tonight to discuss Iraq's future with Iranian officials
as well as heads of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI),
the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported, quoting un-identified informed
source.
The visit, the first by Mr. Barzani oin the past eight years, takes place right on the heels of both Mr. Barzani and Jalal Talabani, the Head of the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's recent visit to Kuwait where they met with Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, the leader of SAIRI, stressing on the ouster of Saddam Hoseyn and election of a new leader accepted by all Iraqi groups.
The meeting comes amid US efforts to oust Saddam if it fails to come clean on its nuclear arms programs.
President Bush said on Saturday that the United States will take "some time" to thoroughly evaluate Iraq's arms declaration and judge whether Iraqi President was meeting U.N. disarmament demands.
Iraq said on Saturday it had no weapons of mass destruction in a declaration that was demanded by a U.N. resolution last month. The document of hundreds of pages in both Arabic and English was made public to international journalists shortly before it was due to be handed over to U.N. weapons inspectors in Baghdad.
It is to be flown to New York for evaluation by Security Council member countries, including the United States.
"We will judge the declaration's honesty and completeness only after we have thoroughly examined it, and that will take some time", Bush said in his weekly radio address, adding that the declaration must be "credible and accurate and complete, or the Iraqi dictator will have demonstrated to the world that once again he has chosen not to change his behaviour".
Iraqi opposition groups, however, though they have expressed their opposition to any US attack on Iraq, have assured Washington of their support for toppling Mr. Hoseyn and the ruling Ba’th Party.
In an interview with the Persian service of the BBC, Mr. Hoshyar Zibari, a DPK representative in Europe said Mr. Barzani’s visit to Iran takes place at the invitation of the Iranian government and confirmed that besides Iranian officials, he would also meet with Mr. Hakim as well as other Iraqi oppositions stationed in Iran.
Mr. Barzani is accompanied by an important delegation and would discuss the Iraqi crisis, the situation in the Iraqi Kurdistan and above all the forthcoming an all Iraqi oppositions conference, due to take place in London on 13 December.
Mr. Zibari confirmed that Mr. Barzani’s visit to Tehran is part of the Iraqi Kurds to get the backing of the international community, particularly Iraq’s neighbours, for the London conference.
Both Talabani and Barzani were in Europe recently and in their meetings with leaders of some European countries and the European Community, stressed on the importance of their backing for Iraqi opposition groups.
According to Iraqi sources close to the conference, some 200 delegates from six Iraqi opposition groups, including the two main Kurdish organisations and the SAIRI are expected to take part at the two days meeting, aimed at hammering out a power-sharing government to replace the present dictatorship in Baghdad. ENDS BARZANI IN TEHRAN 71202