KUWAIT CITY: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Sunday urged Iraqi political parties to accept the Saudi invitation to meet in Riyadh to resolve their political deadlock.
"We have been pleased to hear (Saudi) King Abdullah’s invitation to Iraq’s political leaders to resolve Iraqi problems under the umbrella of the Arab League," Hariri said in a keynote address at the Kuwait Financial Forum.
"We advise our brothers in Iraq not to miss this golden opportunity," the Lebanese premier said.
The Saudi king called on Iraqi leaders to meet in Riyadh after the Eid Al-Adha holiday "under the umbrella of the Arab League to seek a solution to the problem of forming a new government, which has taken too long."
The invitation did not specify a date, only saying the talks should take place following Eid, which falls on November 16 and after the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca from November 14-18.
In Baghdad, an MP close to Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, who is seeking to keep his job, scorned the invitation.
"This Saudi initiative is not positive, and that country does not have a role to play because it has not been neutral in recent years; it has always had a negative attitude toward (Maliki) and (his) State of Law" bloc, Sami Al-Askari said.
Mahmoud Othman, an independent Kurdish MP, said Iraqis should sort out their own problems.
Iraq has been without a government since a March 7 election in which the Sunni-dominated Iraqiya bloc of former premier Iyad Allawi, who is jockeying to get back his old job, won 91 seats. Maliki’s State of Law won 89.
Despite intense back-room negotiations, neither side has been able to muster the 163 seats required for a majority in Iraq’s 325-member parliament.
