HEADLINES:
R/€ 
R/£ Promising future for Iraq thanks to SA trio
Rival factions agree to work together towards peaceSeptember 06, 2007 Edition 1
Peter Fabricius
Veterans of South Africa's historic constitutional negotiations in the early 1990s have been praised for the decisive role they played over the last few days in securing a tentative agreement between Iraq's warring Shi'ite and Sunni factions on a road map to peace.
Roelf Meyer, who led the old National Party's delegation at SA's Codesa negotiations, Mac Maharaj, a key member of the ANC's Codesa team and Aboobaker ("Rashid") Ismail, also a key member of the ANC's delegation in the Codesa military negotiations, helped guide four days of secret talks among the Iraqis, which ended on Monday in Finland.
The Iraqi leaders who reportedly participated included representatives of the radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr; the leader of the largest Sunni Arab political group, Adnan al-Dulaimi; and Humam Hammoudi, the Shi'ite chairperson of the Iraqi parliament's foreign affairs committee.
The talks ended with the adoption of the Helsinki Agreement, which was described by the negotiators as a "roadmap to peace" in war-torn Iraq. The agreement coincided with US President George Bush's unannounced visit to Iraq and appears to have contributed towards his upbeat statements about the prospects for peace.
In a statement issued on Monday night, the Iraqi participants committed "to work towards a robust framework for a lasting settlement.
"Those present agreed to a set of recommendations to start negotiations to reach national reconciliation.
"The principles of inclusivity, power-sharing and a commitment to removing the use of violence as a means of resolving political differences were among the most urgent concerns agreed," the statement said.
The South Africans, as well as Jeffrey Donaldson, a Northern Irish Protestant lawmaker, and Martin McGuinness, the veteran Irish Republican Army commander who today is the senior Catholic in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government, were included to share their experiences.
Irish political consultant Quentin Oliver, who participated in the discussions, praised the South Africans highly for helping to secure the deal.
"The Iraqis saw the dynamics from us. Apartheid removed. Troubles accommodated. Baghdad next," Oliver said, while stressing, "they did it, not us. We helped."
Oliver organised the successful campaign in the 1998 referendum in Northern Ireland to secure popular approval for the breakthrough Good Friday agreement, which eventually ended the conflict there.
Meyer said that the agreement had exceeded his expectations. "We thought we would just get them together to talk to each other. They decided themselves to formulate these principles."
However Meyer also expressed caution, saying the negotiators now had to go home to Iraq to secure the approval of their principals for the agreement. "They must indicate now whether or not they want further help from us on the way forward."
Meyer said the South Africans and Irish had shared their own negotiation experiences with the Iraqis, "including the problems we encountered and the mistakes we made".
The Helsinki Agreement says the Iraqis agreed to consult further on the recommendations to start negotiations to reach national reconciliation.
The recommendations include resolving all issues through non-violence and democracy; prohibiting the use of arms for all armed groups during the process of negotiations; and establishing "an independent consultative body to explore ways to deal with the legacy of the past in a way that will unite the nation".
The agreement also lists several political objectives, including dealing with "armed groups which are not classified as terrorist, encouraging them to use peaceful … means to address the conflict".
The Helsinki Agreement echoes some of the elements of SA's National Peace Accord that political parties signed to establish the foundation of trust for the constitutional negotiations that followed.
Meyer is now a political consultant who has been involved in several peacemaking initiatives around the world. Maharaj was a cabinet minister under President Mandela and is now retired.
Ismail, former head of Umkhonto we Sizwe's special operations, is now head of currency and protection services at the SA Reserve Bank in Pretoria.
© 1999 - 2010 Star & Independent Online (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved.