CAIRO, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Arab League (AL) Chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit on Saturday left for Iraq to support efforts of reviving dialogue between Baghdad and Erbil ahead of the Kurdish independence referendum, the AL said in a statement.
Abul Gheit will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Abadi in Baghdad to discuss tensions with the Kurdistan region, with Erbil being its capital city, after the referendum was announced, the spokesman of the AL Mahmoud Afifi said in a statement.
The national unity after defeating Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and tackling the resulted political and developmental challenge are very important now, as well as prompting the concept of citizenship that includes the different sects of Iraqis, regardless of their political, religious and ethnic backgrounds, the statement added.
During the visit, the AL chief will also meet with President of the Kurdistan region Masoud Barzani in a bid to revive a constructive political dialogue between the two sides, it added.
"The referendum will only make the situation more complicated," Afifi noted.
Last month, Abul Gheit has sent a message to the president of Kurdistan region stressing the necessity of keeping the Kurdish as an original component of the Arab community, especially the current regional scene is highly intensified with divisions and conflicts.
The government of Kurdistan region has declared intention to run a referendum on its independence on Sept. 25, a step deemed by Baghdad as "unconstitutional and illegal."
The referendum is opposed by other countries including the Iraqi neighbors of Iran and Turkey.
