Iraq supports Syrian people''s aspirations for freedom - Maliki

JEDDAH, March 1 (KUNA) -- Rebuffing accusations of supporting Syrian regime in its crackdown against pro-democracy protesters, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said Thursday that Iraq supports Syrian people's aspirations for freedom.
"We support Syrian people's demands for freedom, write their own constitution on the basis of citizenship and abolishing the one-party system," the Iraqi top official said during an interview with the Saudi daily of Aukadh.
"Change is necessary. The situation can't continue for long without change, " the Iraqi official added.
The Iraqi Premier, however, expressed fears that current confrontation between the regime and the opposition could blow into an all-out civil war.
"Sectarian tension, currently, runs high in Syria. We fear it could trigger sectarian polarization then into a sectarian fighting and a civil war which will consequently allow foreign forces interfere in Syria," he said.
Al-Maliki announced Iraq's support for the Arab League plan to resolve the worsening crisis in Syria is a political one.
"Therefore, we back the Arab League plan to resolve the crisis peacefully through Arab-UN backed Syrian national dialogue to guarantee people's freedoms, agree on a national unity government, launch plural political system, hold free and fair elections under UN and Arab League supervision and elect a national council to write a new constitution for the country." He made it clear that Iraq won't support a regime that is not ready to meet the aspirations of its own people.
Iraq has shied away from imposing punitive measures against Syria as President Bashar al-Assad's regime has carried out a bloody crackdown over the past 11 months on an uprising against his rule in which rights groups say 7, 600 people have been killed.
Al-Maliki said that if the situation in Syria takes a worse turn, Iraq will be the first affected by it.
"This makes us cautious in dealing with the situation there. Syria is on our borders and if a sectarian civil war eruptes there, it will be moved directly to Iraq and other countries such as Jordan and Lebanon," he warned.
"This is what makes us exert more efforts to find a solution to the crisis through dialogue and press both parties to sit at the table to negotiate compromise solutions that preserve Syria's unity and spare it from a devastating sectarian war." The Iraqi Premier dismissed as baseless reports about that his government has recently backed the Syrian regime with about USD 10 billion in aid.
Meanwhile, Al-Maliki hailed the Iraqi-Saudi relations, stressing that Iraq is looking forward to bolstering ties with the Kingdom on all domains.
In this regard, he applauded the Saudi recent decision to send a new ambassador to Baghdad.
On the other hand, Al-Maliki underscored his country's readiness to host the Arab Summit; scheduled late this month.
Baghdad said on Friday it would not invite the Syrian government or the opposition to an Arab summit to be held in the Iraqi capital in late March, after an Arab League request that Damascus should not attend.
Arab League member states voted in November to suspend Syria's participation in the Arab League because of the violence. (end) yms.ibi KUNA 011304 Mar 12NNNN