Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
CAIRO, Egypt - (AP) Arab League chief Amr Moussa will continue with his planned reconciliation mission to Iraq, he said Tuesday, despite an attack on an advance team from the pan-Arab body in Baghdad.
Gunmen opened fire Monday on a convoy carrying Arab League delegates during a visit to prepare for Moussa's trip to Iraq later this month.
"This will not effect the league's position nor its endeavors in Iraq," Moussa told reporters. "(But) we wish it had never happened."
Arab foreign ministers decided earlier this month to send Moussa to Iraq to try carve out a mediating role to end the war-torn country's political deadlock over a new constitution, which is set to go to a national referendum for voting on Saturday.
Moussa has warned of a looming civil war in Iraq and urged for a national reconciliation conference.
The league delegation is being led by one of Moussa's top aides and is hoping to gain a firsthand sense of Iraq's precarious security situation and sectarian tensions.
The League has met resistance from Shiite and Kurdish leaders as it tries to piece together a reconciliation conference with Sunni Muslim Arabs, who form the backbone of Iraq's rampant insurgency and have threatened to veto the constitution.
A policeman was wounded in Monday's shooting, but no one in the delegation was hurt.
No date has been fixed for Moussa's tour, but he said it will take place after the constitutional referendum.
Gunmen opened fire Monday on a convoy carrying Arab League delegates during a visit to prepare for Moussa's trip to Iraq later this month.
"This will not effect the league's position nor its endeavors in Iraq," Moussa told reporters. "(But) we wish it had never happened."
Arab foreign ministers decided earlier this month to send Moussa to Iraq to try carve out a mediating role to end the war-torn country's political deadlock over a new constitution, which is set to go to a national referendum for voting on Saturday.
Moussa has warned of a looming civil war in Iraq and urged for a national reconciliation conference.
The league delegation is being led by one of Moussa's top aides and is hoping to gain a firsthand sense of Iraq's precarious security situation and sectarian tensions.
The League has met resistance from Shiite and Kurdish leaders as it tries to piece together a reconciliation conference with Sunni Muslim Arabs, who form the backbone of Iraq's rampant insurgency and have threatened to veto the constitution.
A policeman was wounded in Monday's shooting, but no one in the delegation was hurt.
No date has been fixed for Moussa's tour, but he said it will take place after the constitutional referendum.