Dec. 3 — The Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, rejected today calls for an international conference to reach a solution to the widening sectarian war in Iraq, saying the Iraqis were working to stanch the bloodshed through their own political process.
Mr. Talabani’s comments came in response to a call last week by Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations, to hold an international conference on Iraq that would include all of the country’s major political groups and representatives from around the region.
“We have an ongoing political process and a council of representatives that is the best in the region,” Mr. Talabani said in a statement, using the formal name of the Iraqi Parliament. “We became an independent sovereign state and we decide the issues of the country.”
President Talabani’s firm stand on the issue contradicts not only Mr. Annan, but also the recommendation by a growing number of American policy makers that the United States and Iraq should hold a conference that would bring together all the countries in the region that have vested interests in trying to reestablish stability in Iraq. Such a meeting might include Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, all accused by various American and Iraqi leaders of fomenting violence here.
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