French foreign minister meets Iraqi president Talabani (Roundup)

Jun 1, 2008, 11:27 GMT

Baghdad - French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner, on a two-day visit to Iraq, discussed with President Jalal Talabani recent achievements and military operations carried out in the country, media sources said Sunday.

During the talks which took place Saturday evening, Talabani spoke about the newly launched security operations in Mosul, Basra and Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City.

He stressed the mutual cooperation between the Iraqi forces and civilians had helped the operations succeed and return calm to the Iraqi cities, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported, citing an official statement issued from the president's office.

The Iraqi president told Kouchner that Iraqis now enjoy a stable political, economic and security environment.

Kouchner arrived in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya on a previously unannounced visit Saturday - his second after a three-day visit to Baghdad last August.

He started his trip with a tour of one of the city's monumental sites.

The French minister told reporters that the visit was in response to an invitation from Iraqi Vice President Abdul-Mahdy.

Kouchner praised the new developments in Iraq and expressed his support to the country.

Kouchner stressed that the visit would trigger 'a true enhancement in relations between France and the Iraqi people in addition to providing support to all southern Iraqi cities.'

The French minister's talks with Talabani also covered the issue of Iraqi refugees. Talabani said that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki had prepared a plan to secure the return of the refugees back to Iraq. But no further details were disclosed.

After meeting with Kouchner, Talabani discussed the issue of provincial elections, especially in Kirkuk, with a delegation of the United Iraqi Alliance, a Shiite bloc with the 83 seats, the majority in the parliament, VOI said.

Talabani stressed the importance of abiding by the constitution and laws regarding the provincial elections.

The issue of the provincial elections in Kirkuk has been a matter of debate among various Iraqi parliamentary blocs. Many members of the parliament recommend splitting Kirkuk into four electoral areas, while Kurds refuse the idea on grounds that it conflicts with the Iraqi constitution.

According to the provincial elections law endorsed by the Iraqi presidency, the provincial elections should start by October. The law's supporters hope that the new local elections would remedy uneven provincial councils in which Iraq's Sunni Arabs in particular are under-represented.

Such electoral distortions are the product of a Sunni Arab boycott of previous provincial elections.