Howard asks Iraq govt to distribute oil wealth
Melbourne, Aug. 11 (PTI): Australian Prime Minister John Howard has asked the Iraqi government to make faster progress towards resolving political differences in the war-torn country and distribute wealth generated by oil.
In a blunt letter to his Iraqi counterpart Nouri al-Maliki, Howard asked him to speed up the sharing of oil wealth among all sections of the Iraqi community, including the minority Sunni population.
He also asked the Iraqi government to make faster progress towards resolving the country's political differences, media reports said here today.
Howard, in the letter sent last week, warned that if the Iraqis fail to make progress, the public support for Australia's military deployment to the war-torn country may not be sustainable.
The clear implication in Howard's letter is that the US public support would also falter without signs of substantial political progress in Iraq.
The secret letter, which apparently showed that Howard is under real political pressure on Iraq for the first time, was transmitted electronically to the Australian embassy in Baghdad and hand-delivered to Maliki's office by the Australian ambassador Mark Innes Brown. The hard copy was later sent in a secure diplomatic bag.
In the letter, Howard urged Maliki to move decisively on political reconciliation within Iraq.
He told Maliki that "prompt, concrete measures are needed not only to secure Iraq's future, but also to ensure regional stability and continued constructive international engagement".
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