Reports: Bahrain Nominates Ambassador To Iraq

Manama, Bahrain(AHN) - Bahrain is set to appoint its youngest ambassador to Iraq, according to highly placed sources. Reports stated that Salah Al Maliki, 34 would join the post as the new ambassador to Iraq. " We are following all the procedures for the appointment. The process is not completely over," sources told AHN on Wednesday. Al Maliki works presently with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here and was posted at Bahrain's permanent mission to the United Nations from 2000- 2005, according to local reports. During the Manama Meeting, U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice had urged Bahrain and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, including Egypt and Jordan, to open their respective embassies in Baghdad and offer debt relief to Iraq. The Bahrain Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said in an interview recently, " We believe that Iraqi relations are historic not only with Bahrain but also with all the Gulf nations. We believe that part of the Iraqi people's makeup is of Gulf origin." The United Arab Emirates(UAE) cabinet has also reportedly nominated Abduallah Ibrahim Al Shehhi as their ambassador to Iraq. There has been no ambassador from Arab country stationed in Iraq permanently since 2005. Bahrain, Kuwait and UAE planning to send their envoys, is seen as a good sign for the Iraqi authorities, who are now pressuring the U.S. to pullout from the war torn country. Bahrain's foreign policy states full respect for Iraqi unity, independence and its sovereignty. It further denounces all criminal and terrorist acts that target holy places, places of worship, and innocent victims, including Iraqi civilians and diplomats working in Baghdad. In 2005, a senior Al Qaeda operative was arrested by U.S. authorities west of Baghdad for an assassination attempt on Bahrain's Ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Malallah Al Ansari. Bahrain, a close US ally has recently appointed a Jewish woman as it's ambassador in Washington.
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