The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said on Thursday it would name an ambassador to Iraq within days, in the first such move by a US ally in the Gulf since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
The announcement came as UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan made a landmark visit to Baghdad, the first by such a high-ranking official from an Arab country in the Gulf since the US-led invasion of 2003.
“Consultations are under way between the UAE and the Iraqi government about naming the ambassador to Iraq and reopening the Emirati embassy in the next few days,” Sheikh Abdullah told a press conference in Baghdad.
He said he hoped to see “an active and effective Emirati embassy in Baghdad in the coming weeks.”
“We view Iraq as an important partner in the region, and we aspire to [Baghdad] being an important partner of the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council],” the Emirati news agency WAM quoted the foreign minister as saying.
The oil-rich GCC also includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Washington has been pushing its Arab allies, notably regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, to send ambassadors and high-level officials like trade ministers to Baghdad to help anchor volatile post-Saddam Iraq in the Arab world.
“We absolutely appreciate what the UAE has decided to do today,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, urging other countries to follow suit.
US Ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker also voiced satisfaction.
“This reflects I think an appreciation on the part of the Arabs that things are different in Iraq in both security and political terms. Now the challenge is keeping all this going,” Crocker said.
The UAE withdrew its most senior diplomat — a charge d’affaires — from Baghdad in May 2006 after another diplomat was kidnapped by Islamist militants and held for two weeks before being released.
Sheikh Abdullah held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as well as his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari and President Jalal Talabani.
Zebari said the UAE foreign minister’s visit “marks a new start for the presence of Arab countries in Iraq” and that Baghdad had promises of similar moves by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
At an international meeting on Iraq in Stockholm last week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice encouraged “everyone to increase their diplomatic, economic, social and cultural engagement with Iraqis.
“We especially urge Iraq’s neighbors and friends to strengthen these ties through official visits to Iraq, the reopening of embassies and consulates and the appointment of ambassadors,” Rice said.
The Sunni-ruled Arab monarchies of the region have been reluctant to upgrade ties with Iraq, not just because of insecurity in the country but also because of its Shiite-led government’s perceived tilt toward non-Arab Shiite Iran.
A US official said last week that Arab states have been encouraged by the recent crackdown on Shiite militias by Maliki, himself a Shiite, and motivated by a need to check Iranian-backed power plays in Lebanon.
A statement from Maliki’s office said his government hoped the Sheikh Abdullah’s visit “will mark the beginning of new relations between our two countries, especially in the areas of trade and investment.”
Last Friday, Jordan said it would also appoint a new ambassador “in the coming days.”
Jordan kept its embassy open in Baghdad even after it came under a deadly attack in August 2003, a mere five months after the invasion, but it is run by a charge d’affaires.
On May 4, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Cairo was ready to send a team to Baghdad to evaluate security conditions for opening an embassy.
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