SECRETARY-GENERAL ENCOURAGED BY RETURN OF IRAQ’S SUNNIS

TO CONSTITUTIONAL DRAFTING COMMITTEE

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General is encouraged by the agreement between the Government of Iraq and the Sunni Conference enabling the return of their Conference representatives to Iraq’s constitutional drafting committee. 

The Secretary-General also commends the decision of the Transitional Government of Iraq to conduct an independent criminal investigation into the recent assassinations of two representatives of the Sunni Conference to the constitutional commission, Mijbil Sheikh al-Issa and Dhaman al-Jabouri.  Those responsible should be apprehended and prosecuted.

The Secretary-General urges all Iraqi parties to continue working together to achieve consensus around a new permanent constitution within the established time frame.  He assures them that his Special Representative in Iraq and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) will continue, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1546, to assist the Transitional Government, the Transitional National Assembly, and the Iraqi people in this important stage of the country’s political transition.  

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