CAIRO, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- An unprecedented meeting of warring Iraqi factions - but with now Baath Party members -- is scheduled at the seat of the Arab League in Cairo Saturday.
A League official told United Press International Monday more than 80 Iraqis representing Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis and minorities were expected to attend the three-day on national reconciliation.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa invited Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Algeria's Abdelaziz Boutefliqa to sponsor the opening of the so-called "preparatory meeting of Iraqi National Reconciliation," the official said.
Representatives from the United Nations and delegates from the permanent members of the Security Council were also invited to help in the task of making Iraqis agree on all-out reconciliation conference at the beginning of next year.
The Iraqi government will be represented by President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and National Assembly chief Hajem al-Husseini in addition to Deputy Presidents Adel Abdel Hadi and Ghazi Yawer.
Groups and political forces invited to the meeting include Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish enclave, former premier Ayad Allawi, former member of the ruling council Adnan Pachachi, deputy prime minister and head of the Iraqi National Congress Ahmed Chalabi, Riyad Nouri, the leader in the party of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Shiite Higher Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Sunni factions attending the meeting include the Islamic Iraqi Party, the Committee of Muslim Ulemas, the Congress of the People of Iraq represented by Adnan Dalimi, the National Dialogue Council as well as independent Sunni figures.
No invitation was addressed to former Baathists, upon the request of Shiite groups.
There is no clear agenda for the meeting, but Sunni groups have demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign groups be discussed.
