Talabani Rejects Annan Peace Initiative

Talabani (right) with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Tehran last week (epa) December 3, 2006 -- Iraq today rejected a UN idea of an international peace conference on Iraq while killings across the country continue.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said in a statement he rejects UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's idea of a conference, since there is a "political process ongoing in Iraq and there's a parliament that is the best in the region."

He said Iraq has become an independent sovereign state, and it will be Iraq who decides the future of the country.

On December 2, Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, whose Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) runs a Shi'ite militia backed by Iran, said Annan's proposal is "illegal" and "unrealistic."

(compiled from agency reports)