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Allawi talks to Iraqi insurgents on amnesty -report
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-30 08:40

Iraq's interim prime minister Iyad Allawi has held private meetings with Iraqi insurgents in an effort to persuade them to accept a government amnesty offer, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Allawi said the meetings with representatives of insurgent groups from the restive cities of Falluja, Ramadi and Samarra began shortly after he took office in June but have yet to reach any agreements, the newspaper reported on its Web site. The article is to be published in the paper on Monday.

"I am meeting with them. Falluja. Ramadi. I am talking to the people there and we are reaching out to them, to tribes to guys who were in military and security (services)," the paper quoted Allawi as saying in an interview with foreign newspaper correspondents in Baghdad on Sunday.

He said his latest attempt to get his message across to the insurgents came on Saturday in a meeting with a delegation of senior representatives from Samarra.

Even if he has not been able to persuade insurgents to switch sides, Allawi believes he has made some headway. He said some of the representatives are "changing horses ... and taking the amnesty seriously," The Washington Post reported.

Allawi said the meetings were not negotiation sessions but opportunities for him to pitch the amnesty offer to skeptics, the newspaper said.

Earlier this month, Allawi announced an amnesty for Iraqi insurgents who have committed "minor crimes" such as possession of weapons and explosives, or who had intended to take part in attacks.

"I am meeting them and telling them there is one thing to do: It is the respect of law, the rule of law. If you want to use violence, we will face you violently and suppress you -- and we will bring you to justice," Allawi said in the interview.

Allawi said he posed "a really simple question" to the 11 senior representatives from Samarra: "Tell us what you want, tell us exactly."

"If you need money, wait and you will have your jobs and start earning your money. The economic cycle will start. If you want to be rulers of this country, wait for the elections ... If you want to get the Americans out, fine. Do so, but have the consensus of the people in a proper way, not by forcing them," Allawi said he told the group.

According to the newspaper, Allawi did not identify the people with whom he met. He described them as not "the hard-core criminals" but as "people on the fringes who are disillusioned."



 
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