Moussa, Sistani meet on Iraqi national reconciliation

Visiting Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa on Saturday traveled to Iraq's southern holy city Najaf and met with the country's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Iraqi national reconciliation.

After the meeting at Sistani's house in Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad, Moussa told the press that he has won Sistani's support for holding a Iraqi national reconciliation conference.

"I got the support, which made me glad," Moussa said, adding he presented the Arab initiative for national reconciliation in Iraq, which was blessed and supported by Sistani.

Meanwhile, the senior Shiite cleric gave his views on the basics on which the conference should be held, stressing that any foreign intervention in Iraq's domestic affairs should not take place and that the Iraqis should decide their own fate by themselves.

Moussa arrived in Baghdad on Thursday on his first visit to Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003, in an effort to wrap up final details for the national reconciliation conference to be held in the 22-member pan-Arab body's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt later this year.

During his three-day visit, Moussa also met with senior Iraqi officials including Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who welcomed the Arab initiative which should not include former high- ranking members of the dissolved Baath Party or terrorist groups.

Source: Xinhua