Iraq conflict could lead to Middle East war -Annan
Source: Reuters
(Adds detail, background, quotes throughout.) By Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The worsening conflict in Iraq is increasing the odds of a regional war in the Middle East, outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Friday. It is increasingly clear that soaring violence in Iraq affected not only that country but also threatened to "aggravate a range of underlying tensions in neighboring countries," Annan, who leaves office on Dec. 31, said in his final report to the Security Council on the U.N. role in Iraq. As a result, "the prospects of all-out civil war and even a regional conflict have become much more real" since his last report, issued three months ago, Annan said. His comments appeared to go beyond earlier expressions of concern about the deteriorating situation in Iraq. He said in a BBC interview aired this week that Iraq was in the grips of a civil war and many people were worse off now than under Saddam Hussein. Annan's latest remarks came days after the Iraq Study Group advised U.S. President George W. Bush that his Iraq policy had failed and time was running out for setting a new course. The group, which interviewed Annan in the course of its work, urged Washington to include Iran and Syria in a new diplomatic drive to avoid a "slide toward chaos" in Iraq. U.N. chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the secretary-general had long stressed the importance of dealing with the Middle East as a whole rather than as isolated crises in Iraq, Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Obviously a further breakdown of the situation in Iraq could very well have consequences beyond the borders of Iraq," Dujarric told reporters." Annan said it was the Iraqi government's role to reach out to its neighbors for support as it sought to bring all disenfranchised groups into the political process and address terrorist, insurgent, sectarian and criminal violence. He has been urging Iraq's neighbors to "contribute in a tangible manner" to Iraqi stability, which "would also be beneficial to their own security," he said. He suggested that Security Council permanent members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States take a greater role in encouraging regional dialogue, and said the United Nations could help set up a mechanism for this. Annan has previously suggested an international conference on Iraq, which Baghdad's leaders have rejected.
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