Maliki criticizes external intervention

BAGHDAD, April 11 (UPI) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says he will address what he called negative intervention in Iraqi affairs during a meeting of Middle Eastern countries.

Maliki said he either sent Iraqi delegations or sought third-party mediation to try to persuade "more than one state" from intervening in Iraq's domestic affairs, such as the recent military operation in Basra, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported Friday.

"I will not name these states but I can say that more than one state has intervened in Basra," Maliki told the al-Hurrah television channel. "We have notified these states and sought help of great powers stop the intervention in our affairs."

Maliki said he would use the conference for countries bordering Iraq in Kuwait April 22 to speak against such intervention by some of his nation's neighbors.

"We are thinking strategically on how to deal with these challenges and the gathering of the neighboring states in Kuwait may be an opportunity for us to hold candid conversations," he said.