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Iraq warns of US intervention 'negative effect'

Other News Materials 6 July 2009 02:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baghdad has rejected a Washington demand to supervise reconciliation efforts between Iraqi groups, saying such a move could prove counterproductive, Press TV reported.

The issue, raised during the US Vice President Joe Biden's visit on Friday, was rejected by the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who called on the US to stay away from the country's domestic issues, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

"The reconciliation issue is a purely Iraqi issue and any non-Iraqi involvement might have a negative effect," said Dabbagh on Saturday. "We don't want the Americans to come and get involved."

The remarks followed the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraqi cities as part of an interim security pact between Washington and Baghdad, which also calls for a complete pull out of American troops from the country by the end of 2011.

A row over the future of the oil rich city of Kirkuk, the issue of the future status of former members of the Baath Party and the boundaries of the Kurdistan region are among the key issues that overshadow politics in the war-ravaged country.

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