Sunni, Shia clerics meet at Mecca in bid to end conflict

MIDDLE EAST: Iraqi Sunni and Shia religious leaders gathered after the fast yesterday in holy city of Mecca to begin an attempt to reduce sectarian violence which is propelling the country towards full-scale civil conflict.

The meeting, convened by the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on the auspicious last Friday of the month of Ramadan, was set to endorse a religious ruling drawn from verses from the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad who stated unequivocally that "spilling Muslim blood is forbidden".

The text, dubbed the Mecca Covenant, deems as "sins" sectarian killings, kidnappings and threats. It also calls for respecting the two sects' holy sites, freeing of "all innocent detainees" and preserving the unity of Iraq. An OIC spokesman said the document, which will be promulgated widely in Iraq, "aims to quell religious conflict [ but] does not claim that it can reconcile the protagonists".

Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, who held consultations in Saudi Arabia before the meeting, said: "We pin hopes on every step made by people who care for the interest of Iraq and condemn terror acts . . . A conference like that in Mecca attended by Shia and Sunni clerics is seen as a support for domestic efforts to find common ground for dialogue."

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the frail and ailing senior-most Shia cleric, who has repeatedly condemned sectarian violence, sent a representative to the meeting.

Radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose militia is accused of carrying out many of the attacks on Sunnis, said: "I support all conferences which are in tune with the interests of Iraq but would have preferred it to be held in Iraq."

The head of the influential Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association, Hareth al-Dhari, attended the meeting.

Saudi Arabia, a puritanical Sunni kingdom where Shias are regarded as heretics, hosted the meeting in order to bolster Mr Maliki's government and calm the situation. Riyadh fears Iraqi unrest could spill over into Saudi Arabia's oil-rich eastern province, inhabited by the country's 10 per cent Shia minority.

The Mecca document was drafted by senior Sunni and Shia clerics at a preparatory meeting in Jeddah last weekend but disputes over its wording forced the OIC to limit the meeting, originally scheduled to take place over the past two days, to a single evening session. Similar appeals issued jointly in the past by Sunni and Shia clerics have been ignored.