亚洲人成网站18禁止中文字幕,国产毛片视频在线看,韩国18禁无码免费网站,国产一级无码视频,偷拍精品视频一区二区三区,国产亚洲成年网址在线观看,国产一区av在线

Home / International / International -- News Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
Baghdad Blast Rattles UN Chief
Adjust font size:

An explosion rocked the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad on Thursday close to the building where Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon were holding a joint news conference.

According to some reporters who scrambled to the scene, a big crater scarred the earth crater less than 50 meters away from the conference building.

The conference's live broadcast on al-Jazeera TV caught Ban understandably taken aback and seemingly shocked by the blast as small chips of debris floating down from the ceiling.

An Interior Ministry source confirmed the blast had come from a mortar round that landed in the Green Zone, although casualties remain unconfirmed.

Without commenting on the blast, Ban recovered his composure quickly and fielded one further question before leaving the meeting. Ban said during the conference that his meeting with Maliki had been very good and pledged full UN support to the government.

The surprise visit by Ban came as more violence unfolded in Iraq. Three US soldiers were reported killed as rival Shi'ite gunmen clashed in Basra, Iraq's second city whose oil fields provide much of the country's wealth.

US forces also revealed the capture of a senior aide to radical anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr related to the killing of five American soldiers in the holy city of Kerbala last January.

Reconstruction plan

Ban's trip was the first to Iraq by a UN chief since his predecessor, Kofi Annan, visited in November 2005. The United Nations's Iraq operations have been severely curtailed following the withdrawal of its international staffers in October 2003 after its headquarters were attacked. The top UN envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was among 22 people killed in the truck bombing in Baghdad in August 2003.

An Iraqi government source revealed that talks between Ban and Maliki would focus on the International Compact with Iraq that Ban unveiled last week. The Compact is a five-year reconstruction plan, touted by Ban as a "tool for unlocking Iraq's own potential".

The Compact, overseen by over 80 countries, lays out targets for Iraq to hit over the next five years, including annual economic goals. It further lists essential legislation the government should pass by the end of 2007. 

Contacts with insurgents

Officials in Washington are pushing for a political solution to the sectarian violence devastating Iraq, reiterating the newest US-backed security crackdown in Baghdad is only a temporary measure to give the Iraqi government room to operate.

Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi, International Affairs Director at the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Ministry, announced on Thursday that the government was involved in talks with several important Sunni insurgent groups that could lead to an alliance aimed at ousting al-Qaeda from Iraq.

"We've already established links and contacts with major insurgent groups," Muttalibi told the BBC in an interview.

The Iraqi government has previously maintained sporadic contacts with insurgent groups in the past but the precondition that US troops withdraw immediately has always capsized any attempt at negotiation.

(China Daily via agencies, Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2007)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read

Related Stories
Four Bloody Years
Iraq War: a Victory or Failure?
Car Bomb Kills Five People in Downtown Baghdad
Ban: UN Presence in Iraq Limited by Security Reasons
Annan Says Iraq War Is Worst Moment in Tenure
> Korean Nuclear Talks
> Middle East Peace Process
> Iran Nuclear Issue
> Reconstruction of Iraq
> 6th SCO Summit Meeting
Links
- China Development Gateway
- Foreign Ministry
- Network of East Asian Think-Tanks
- China-EU Association
- China-Africa Business Council
- China Foreign Affairs University
- University of International Relations
- Institute of World Economics & Politics
- Institute of Russian, East European & Central Asian Studies
- Institute of West Asian & African Studies
- Institute of Latin American Studies
- Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies
- Institute of Japanese Studies
SiteMap | About Us | RSS | Newsletter | Feedback
SEARCH THIS SITE
Copyright ? China.org.cn. All Rights Reserved ????E-mail: webmaster@china.org.cn Tel: 86-10-88828000 京ICP證 040089號
    1. <ul id="556nl"><kbd id="556nl"><form id="556nl"></form></kbd></ul>
      <thead id="556nl"></thead>

      1. <em id="556nl"><tt id="556nl"></tt></em>
        <ul id="556nl"><kbd id="556nl"><form id="556nl"></form></kbd></ul>

        <ul id="556nl"><small id="556nl"></small></ul>
        1. <thead id="556nl"></thead>

          亚洲人成网站18禁止中文字幕,国产毛片视频在线看,韩国18禁无码免费网站,国产一级无码视频,偷拍精品视频一区二区三区,国产亚洲成年网址在线观看,国产一区av在线 人妻无码久久影视 日韩久久久久久久久久久久 精品国产香蕉伊思人在线 无码国产手机在线a√片无灬 91在线视频无码