Feuding Iraqi groups hold secret meeting in Finland, official says
HELSINKI, Finland: Representatives from Sunni and Shiite groups in Iraq agreed on a road map to peace during secret talks that ended Monday in Finland, organizers said.
The four-day meeting brought together 16 delegates from the feuding groups to study lessons learned from successful peacemaking efforts in South Africa and Northern Ireland.
"Participants committed themselves to work towards a robust framework for a lasting settlement," said a statement issued late Monday by the Crisis Management Initiative, a conflict-prevention group that organized the meeting.
In an agreement released by CMI, the participants "agreed to consult further" on a list of recommendations to begin reconciliation talks including resolving political disputes through non-violence and democracy.
The recommendations also included the disarmament of feuding factions and forming an independent commission to supervise the disarming of armed groups "in a verifiable manner."
Jeffrey Donaldson, a Protestant lawmaker from Northern Ireland who took part in the talks, called the agreement a "road map" to Iraqi peace that included key principles of the British territory's own peace process.
"Agreement has been reached on the way forward between the parties, and they are now going back to Iraq with these proposals," Donaldson said.
The venue and other details were kept secret to allow the participants to meet in private, although the final document was named the "Helsinki Agreement," suggesting the talks may have been held in the capital.
Among those reportedly at the talks were representatives of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr; the leader of the largest Sunni Arab political group, Adnan al-Dulaimi; and Humam Hammoudi, the Shiite chairman of the Iraqi parliament's foreign affairs committee.
CMI, overseen by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, convened the seminar together with the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies of the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
Donaldson and British government officials confirmed that the Northern Ireland delegation included Martin McGuinness, the veteran Irish Republican Army commander who today is the senior Catholic in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government. Other paroled convicts-turned-peacemakers from both sides of the Northern Ireland divide addressed the conference.
South Africa was represented by members of Nelson Mandela's first unity government following the end of apartheid: African National Congress activist Mac Maharaj and National Party reformer Roelf Meyer.
The agreement called for all parties to be involved in the reconciliation process and to accept the results of the negotiations while working "to end international and regional interference" in Iraq.
Political objectives agreed to included moving away from sectarian and ethnic disputes, ending the displacement of Iraqi refugees, and terminating the presence of foreign troops according to a "realistic timetable."
The participants also agreed to deal with militias by arming and training security forces to become "an effective national force," while fostering economic development across the country.
Members of armed groups that "are not classified as terrorist" would be encouraged to adopt "peaceful political means" and given jobs within the state administration.
A five-point pledge — authored by the American talks chairman, retired Sen. George Mitchell — was required both at the start of Northern Ireland's negotiations and again when former militants, such as McGuinness, gained high office in Belfast.
Ahtisaari, who did not attend the meetings, said it was now up to the Iraqis whether they want to continue the process started in Finland, Finnish broadcaster YLE reported.
Ahtisaari and his group have facilitated peace talks for other conflicts. In 2005, Ahtisaari helped end 30 years of fighting between Aceh rebels and the Indonesian government with peace talks in Finland, which he initiated and mediated with CMI.
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Associated Press Writer Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin, Ireland, contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
Text of the agreement:
http://www.cmi.fi/files/Helsinki_agreement_English.pdf
Peace talks between between Sunnis and Iraqi Shi'ites in Finland aimed at ending sectarian violence in Iraq have ended.

The talks, organized by Finnish non-profit NGO WCrisis Management Initiative (CMI), took place over four days in a secret location in Finland. The discussions were aimed at demonstrating to the two sides what lessons could be learned from successful peace talks in Northern Ireland and South Africa, and were attended by more than 30 participants, of whom 16 were from Iraq and the rest from Northern Ireland and South Africa.

The CMI has now released a document called the "Helsinki Agreement", detailing agreements reached between the two groups to work collaboratively to achieve common goals democratically and without violence. One key recommendation in the Helsinki Agreement, which one Northern Irish lawmaker Jeffrey Donaldson described as a "road map" to Iraqi peace, is that the groups will disarm, and that the disarmament process will be overseen by an independent, neutral organization to ensure it is conducted "in a verifiable manner".

Martin McGuinness, former Provisional Irish Republican Army leader and now Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, was also present in the talks, as were other former enemies from both sides of the former divide in Northern Ireland. South African representatives included African National Congress activist Mac Maharaj and National Party reformer Roelf Meyer. Although no Iraqi participants have been positively identified, reports suggest they included representatives of the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the largest Sunni Arab political group, Adnan al-Dulaimi and Humam Hammoudi, the Shiite chairman of the Iraqi parliament's foreign affairs committee.

Another vital agreement reached was that the groups would unite against militia groups, forming "an effective national force," and encourage armed organizations "not classified as terrorist" to instead adopt "peaceful political means", the reward for which would be positions within the state administration.