Iraq: Iraqi politicians from across the spectrum reached tentative agreement at a conference in Cairo yesterday that violence should stop, detainees go free and US forces gradually withdraw.
The value of the accord was doubtful in the absence of anyone representing the mainly Sunni insurgents fighting the US-backed Shi'ite and Kurdish government - though President Jalal Talabani offered to talk to them if they contacted him.
The agreement, in a draft final statement, fell short of the demand of the Sunni Muslim minority for a firm timetable for a US withdrawal, but did give a commitment to release Sunni men who the Sunnis say are held without charge and tortured.
Delegates said the compromise emerged at negotiations attended by the host of the reconciliation conference, Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa, and the UN representative in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi. The meeting ends today.
No one representing the insurgents fighting to drive out US forces and overthrow the government was present, and the al- Qaeda organisation in Iraq dismissed both the conference and the participants. "The aim is to make Sunni Muslims accept the dirty political game and join in against the jihad project which is beginning to give results," it said in a statement.
"The Crusaders should know that these dwarves [ in Cairo] can't walk in the streets of Baghdad, except in their fortified headquarters or convoys," it added.
After a stormy opening day on Saturday, the mood at the conference turned positive yesterday and politicians from all parties sounded more optimistic.
President Talabani helped to set the tone when he told an early news conference he was willing to talk to violent opponents of his government if they wanted to contact him.
Prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shi'ite Islamist, had his first ever meeting with Harith al-Dhari of the Sunni Muslim Clerics' Association, helping to break the ice between two factions which have diametrically opposite views. Mr Dhari's spokesman said he welcomed Mr Talabani's openness to contacts with the armed opposition, calling it "a correct step which reflects the reality on the ground in Iraq".
The main disputes so far have been over the future of US forces and over who should take part in the political process. The government ruled out any role for Baathist supporters of former president Saddam Hussein, who is on trial. But many politicians said Baathists who joined the party for jobs should not be excluded.
* A roadside bomb in the southern Iraqi city of Basra killed a British soldier and left four others wounded.
On Saturday a suicide bomber detonated his car in a crowd of Shi'ite mourners north of Baghdad, killing at least 36 people and raising the death toll in two days of attacks against Shi'ites to more than 120.