Saudi Arabia opened an Arab gathering on Iraq here on Sunday with a call for organising a meeting of all Iraqi factions under Arab League auspices to promote consensus on the draft constitution.
The meeting would be aimed at "achieving a broad national consensus on the constitution and guaranteeing the participation of all Iraqi groups in the political process," Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told an Arab committee on Iraq holding its first meeting in this Red Sea city.
It would bring together "all Iraqi factions under the auspices of the Arab League," Saud said.
This would be preceded by a visit by Arab League chief Amr Mussa to Iraq to consult Iraqis on the matter, he said.
The Arab committee convened in Jeddah on Sunday evening to draw up a joint strategy on violence-ravaged Iraq, including the possibility of sending observers to monitor the referendum and national elections in December.
The ministerial committee on Iraq was created in September by the Arab League and groups Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
All members were represented by their foreign ministers except Algeria, which sent presidential envoy Abdelaziz Belkhadem. Musa was also on hand.
The meeting, which will resume on Monday morning, was also expected to discuss the possibility of opening an Arab League office in Baghdad and a stronger Arab participation in Iraq's reconstruction process.
In his opening remarks, Saud al-Faisal reiterated concerns he recently expressed about the potential partition of Iraq along sectarian lines.
Calling for preserving Iraq's unity and the "consecration of its Arab identity," Prince Saud said the "particularity" of the Kurdish population had "long been recognised" in Iraq.
"But this unique particularity cannot be applied to other Iraqi regions" if the country's unity is to be preserved, he said, apparently alluding to fears that majority Shias would create their own state in southern Iraq.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who held talks with Saud al-Faisal earlier on Sunday, urged the Arab ministers to discuss what he called "ideas (he has presented) for some practical steps which can help boost morale on the domestic Iraqi scene."
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