CAIRO, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Iraqi Prime
Minister Nourial-Maliki revealed here Sunday that he has ordered a halt to a
controversial barrier construction aimed at separating the capital Baghdad's
Sunni and Shiite areas.
Maliki, who was on his first visit to Egypt in the
current capacity, made the remarks during a joint press conference with Arab
League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
Maliki told the reporters that he rejected the
construction of the wall and ordered the halt of the construction on Saturday,
adding that there were other ways to protect Iraqis from bomb attack.
The U.S. army said last week that it was constructing
a five-km-long concrete wall in a northern Baghdad district in the hope of
protecting the minority Sunnis from attack.
At night in recent days, U.S. troops have been
deploying around the Sunni enclave of Adhamiyah to erect a five-kilometre wall
made of six-tons concrete sections.
However, Iraqi politicians have accused the U.S.
military of hardening the city's already bitter sectarian divisions, saying
erecting a wall around Adhamiyah is the height of failure and a bad, faulty step
that violates human rights.
Many local residents also denounced that they had not
been consulted and the wall will make the whole district a prison, which is
"collective punishment".
On his part, Moussa highlighted the importance of
bringing in together all Iraqi parties to the negotiating table, saying he has
agreed with Maliki to hold any conference on Iraq either in Baghdad or at the AL
headquarters in Cairo.
Egypt was the first leg of Maliki's regional tour.
After Egypt, Maliki will fly to Kuwait and other regional countries for
preparatory talks ahead of the upcoming conferences on Iraq to be held in
Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on May 3-4.
His regional tour aims to rally support for his
government and its efforts to reduce widespread sectarian violence in the
country.
CAIRO, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday met here with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malikion latest developments in Iraq and preparations for two international conferences on Iraq in early May.
Maliki, who arrived here earlier in the day on his first visit to Egypt as prime minister, held talks with Mubarak at Egypt's Heliopolis presidential palace Sunday morning. Full Story
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