Leadership (Abuja)
Nwakpa O. Nwakpa
30 December 2008
Abuja — The Republic of Iraq, through its embassy, has sent felicitation messages to the Federal Republic of Nigeria for her effort at regional peace moves, wishing her compliment of the season.
The embassy of the Republic of Iraq availed itself of this opportunity to renew the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, as well as all diplomatic/consular missions representatives of the UN specialised agencies of its highest consideration."The message is part of Iraq's efforts to gain acceptance in the international community having emerged as a peaceful and responsible democracy, my government believes that Iraq's status in the international community is due for review", said Hoshyar Zabari, Iraq's Minister of Foreign Affairs in an address presented to UN Security Council.
The minister further stated that "the situation in Iraq today is fundamentally different to the situation prevailing before now as Iraq is no longer a rogue state flouting international law and posing a threat to international peace or regional security, nor is it an instrument of oppression against its people".Zabari said that the present government is committed to the course of democracy saying "we are currently preparing to hold open and fair provincial and national elections this coming year". This he described as marking "a major step toward political stabilisation and the completion of this constitutional and democratic electoral cycle".He, however, noted that the country is still faced with many challenges "including the constitutional review, finding sustainable solutions to power and resource sharing including adopting hydrocarbons legislation, the resolution of disputed territories as well as diginified and sustainable return of over two million refugees and internally displaced persons".This, he said, can be achieved through the indoubted success of the surge strategy boistered by the commendable performance of Iraqi security force backed up with economic and political measures at local and provincial government levels.
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