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Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives in Baghdad May 19, 2007. Blair on Saturday paid his final visit as prime minister to Iraq, a country whose future may define the legacy of his decade in power. He flew into Baghdad's heavily fortified Green
Zone to meet President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
to discuss how to push for greater political reconciliation in a country
fractured by sectarian violence.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>> |
BAGHDAD, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Outgoing British Prime
Minister Tony Blair arrived in Baghdad for an unannounced visit on Saturday and
expected to meet Iraqi leaders, an Iraqi official said.
"Blair will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
and the Kurdish president Jalal Talabani," an official from Maliki's office, who
spoke anonymously, told Xinhua.
The official could not say when the meetings will
take place, but confirmed that Blair has landed in the heavily fortified Green
Zone in central Baghdad, which houses the U.S. and British embassies along with
the Iraqi government offices.
Blair's seventh visit to Iraq, since the U.S.-led
invasion in 2003, was not announced in advanced for security reasons and is the
final visit for the British premier before he steps down from his office late in
June.