News, May 2003, Al-Jazeerah.info
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By Francesca Sawalha
Jordan Times, 5/29/03
AMMAN — Iraqi religious leaders on Wednesday wrapped up a two-day conference here calling for an immediate interim government and free and direct elections, and asking US-British forces to abide by international law.
Meeting for the first time since Saddam Hussein took over in 1979 — and many of them meeting for the first time ever — representatives of Iraq's Shiite, Sunni and Christian communities rejected violence and agreed to cooperate in concrete and practical ways to build a more just society in Iraq.
A joint statement issued by some 20 representatives of Iraq's religious groups asked “humanitarian institutions and agencies to increase their provision of humanitarian assistance through a greater cooperation with Iraqi religious and other social institutions, including representatives of women and youth groups.”
The gathering, organised by the New York-based World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP), “demand[ed] that coalition forces abide by their full responsibilities as the de facto occupying power in compliance with all relevant treaties, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Hague Conventions on the protection of civilians and the provision of the necessary humanitarian requirements for occupied populations.”
The religious leaders called in their final recommendations for a temporary Iraqi government to be formed as soon as possible, and for a permanent government to be built “on the basis of direct, free, democratic elections, a constitution and the rule of law.”
HRH Prince Hassan, who hosted the conference, highlighted the importance of the message of hope that religious leaders can convey to the Iraqi people in these troubled times.
“Saving lives and upholding the dignity of the Iraqi people is our sole aim in coming together,” Prince Hassan said.
“Pledging common action to assure a just society in Iraq, these religious leaders demonstrate that religion can be a powerful force for peace and for affirming our common humanity.”
Addressing the press after the conference, Prince Hassan, who is also the WCRP's moderator, hailed the participation of so many Iraqi religious communities, joined by more than 40 international religious leaders.
Such pluralistic participation, the Prince said, represented the tolerance and respect existing within the rich and diverse Iraqi society.
“Such pluralism led to a final communiquÈ achieved entirely in direct discussion between the Iraqis,” Prince Hassan said.
“Our role was that of facilitators, my role was simply that of a host and moderator of the WCRP,” he stressed, adding that, while honoured to have hosted the meeting, he had no political aim or goal whatsoever in doing so.
The religious leaders gathered at the conference unanimously elected Prince Hassan to represent them in all regional and international venues regarding their shared commitment to collaborate on the full reconstruction of Iraq.
Attending the conference were representatives of Shiite leaders Ayatollah Muqtada Al Sadr, Sayyid Hussein Al Sadr, Ayatollah Mohammad Al Sayyid Al Hakim, and participants close to Sayyed Ali Al Sestani.
Sheikh Ahmad Al Qubeisy attended on behalf of Iraq's Sunni community. Christian leaders also participated, including the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad Emanuel Deli.
Prince Hassan said participants issued a “call for freedom in all its aspects — freedom of worship and belief, freedom of participation in the future of Iraq, freedom of citizens to participate as stakeholders, freedom to build from bottom up the concept of a society based on rights and responsibilities.”
He expressed hope that their call would “reach the centres of power, not only in terms of the countries directly involved with the future of Iraq, either in the region or beyond the region, but also in terms of UN system.”
The conference also called for the creation of an inter-religious council in Iraq, something that the WCRP has already initiated in the Balkans, Indonesia and Sierra Leone.
“I hope it will work like it has worked in other situations where WCRP has been prominent,” Prince Hassan told journalists.
“Our role is to promote truth and reconciliation, rehabilitation not only in its material and economic sense, but also in its psychological, and value-based and spiritual sense.”
WCRP Secretary General William Vendley said the Amman conference proved that the war in Iraq had not succeeded in stimulating polarisation and clashes among religions in that country.
“The Iraqi religious leaders gathered here rejected violence and decided to commit to work together on the reconstruction of Iraq,” Vendley told the press.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |