Arab nations reopening embassies in Iraq

BAGHDAD, March 19 (UPI) -- Nine Arab nations have reopened their embassies in Iraq and other Arab consulates will reopen soon, the head of the League of Arab States said Thursday.

Security fears in Iraq, which had discouraged Arab diplomatic missions from operating, had diminished, league Secretary General Amr Moussa told a Baghdad news conference.

Moussa, who was critical of U.S. foreign policy when he was Egypt's foreign minister from 1991 to 2001, said he sensed a great improvement in Iraq's conditions in the past four years, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

"There is a wide horizon for hope in this country," he said.

Moussa also affirmed that the league's primary role in Iraq was to support national conciliation efforts, insisting that "sectarian polarization must be stopped."