Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president calls on insurgents to join political process

BAGHDAD, Iraq Iraq's Sunni Arab vice president on Saturday called on insurgents and militant groups to join the political process and take part in the Shiite-led government's national reconciliation plan before it's too late.

In a meeting with community leaders from Baghdad's predominantly Sunni Arab Azamiyah district, Tariq al-Hashimi said Iraqis still have time to avoid sectarian conflict "as the rules of the game have been changed and problems can't be solved only by weapons."

"This is a call for the Iraqi resistance to think thoughtfully and sit around the negotiating table before it's too late," al-Hashimi told about 100 people at the Islamic University in Azamiyah. "Differences will devastate Iraq and this division is not to our benefit."

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last month launched a 24-point reconciliation plan which he hopes will bridge the religious, ethnic and political divisions that have been tearing Iraq apart since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The plan includes and offer of amnesty to member of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency not involved in terrorist activities and calls for disarming primarily Shiite sectarian militias.

But no major Sunni Arab insurgent groups has publicly agreed to join the plan, and many Shiite militias are controlled by legislators themselves.
IHT