Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Written Evidence


Letter to the Clerk of the Committee from the Parliamentary Relations and Devolution Team, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 15 March 2005

  Thank you for your letter of 11 March, with questions about Iraq and North Africa. Our answers are as follows:

What steps has the United Kingdom taken to engage with Iran and Syria on their role in relation to Iraq, and with what results?

  The UK continues to discuss Iraq with its neighbours, including Syria and Iran. We have repeatedly stressed to both countries the need for a peaceful, prosperous and secure Iraq able to determine its own future through the ballot box.

  The Foreign Secretary met Hassan Rouhani, Secretary General of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council on 13 December 2004 and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Director-General John Sawers met Foreign Minister Kharrazi and other senior figures in Iran's Government on 2 February 2005. In all those meetings Iraq was discussed. The Foreign Secretary raised Iraq with Syrian Foreign Minister Shara'a in October 2004. Our ambassadors in Damascus and Tehran raise the issue of Iraq on a regular basis.

  We continue to underline the importance we attach to ending Syrian support for the insurgency. To this end, we welcome the steps Syria has taken to prevent infiltration across its border. But Syria remains the main point of entry for jihadists aiming to reach Iraq, and the Syrians could do more to tackle this. Likewise Syria could do more to stop jihadist groups and individuals operating inside Syria who facilitate the training and the transfer of insurgents to Iraq. We welcome the handing over by Syria of Saddam Hussein's half brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, but there are other insurgency leaders who the Syrian regime continues to harbour (Iraq has passed details of individuals it wants to see action on to the Syrians). It is in neither the Syrian or Arab world's interests that Iraq is subject to continuing violence.

What steps has the United Kingdom and the international community taken to prevent a serious escalation in tension in Kirkuk?

  We have a British Embassy Office in the North of Iraq located in Kirkuk to represent UK interests in northern Iraq. One of its roles is to facilitate dialogue among the different communities and to help develop constructive ideas to build inclusive political institutions in this most ethnically diverse part of the country.

  Our staff in Kirkuk regularly lobby Kurdish and other political leaders through meetings with local religious, political and business groups. The message that political participation has to include all groups has frequently been delivered via the British Office. Frequent access to key Kurdish leaders such as Barzani and Talabani has enabled us to convey the message that this has to be reflected in the final constitutional settlement.

  We supported the creation of an IDP Committee in Kirkuk and are now encouraging the establishment of an Iraqi-led Kirkuk Article 58 Committee (relating to Article 58 of the TAL which focuses on Kirkuk) to take forward decisions on the status of Kirkuk. Both the British Ambassador and the US Ambassador sent letters to the Kurdish leaders noting support for implementation of the TAL and particularly Article 58.

  Prior to the elections the British Office in co-operation with the US office successfully persuaded the Kurds not to boycott the Kirkuk elections. Our Consul General monitored the elections closely, visiting a number of polling stations in and around Kirkuk.

  The Global Conflict Prevention Pool is a potential source of funding to support Kirkuk's conflict prevention efforts. It has already provided £38,000 to support the creation of an Independent Media Resource Centre in Kirkuk, led by an ethnically mixed Media Commission.

Has the United Kingdom provided Turkey with assurances over the territorial integrity of Iraq?

  We have a regular dialogue with Turkey and all of Iraq's neighbours on a bilateral basis and through the Sharm El-Sheikh process. The UK has reaffirmed the imperative of the territorial integrity of Iraq on many occasions, including in its support for UNSCR 1546.

What progress has been made towards a memorandum of understanding to allow extradition from the United Kingdom to countries in the Maghreb?

  We have had discussions with a number of countries at both Ministerial and official level. The negotiations are inevitably complex, but are now moving into a more detailed phase.

Chris Stanton

Parliamentary Relations and Devolution Team,

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

15 March 2005





 
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