Conciliation will help Iraq and Yemen alike: Amr Moussa

If conciliation does not take place, the new Iraq will never emerge, the Secretary General of the Arab League, General Amr Moussa, told RT, commenting on the US troops leaving Iraq completely in August 2010.

“If reconciliation is done properly, bringing everybody together, regardless of being Arab or Kurd, Muslim or Christian, Shia or Sunni – all those differences – Iraq has a good future,” said General.

The same applies to the situation in Yemen, added Amr Moussa, saying “Yemen needs to be helped in order to move on, to end suffering, poverty and improve the economic situation; it is not a question of security alone.”

Speaking about the conflict around new Israeli settlements in Palestine, General Moussa said “What is the use of the negotiation if the territory under negotiation is being eroded by the day? This is not serious if you negotiate and one of the parties is doing everything possible to prevent the outcome of negotiations being reached.”

At the same time, answering a question about the situation in Afghanistan, General Moussa refused to give any prognosis because the situation in this country is too complicated and there is an active military confrontation there right now.

As for Iran, the diplomat said that he opts for “serious negotiations” and more open dialogue between Iran and the six powers.

“In the Middle East we do not need military nuclear programs, neither from Iran nor from Israel,” he said. “The weak point in all that nuclear issue about Iran is that the public opinion in the Middle East is not convinced that there is one nice military nuclear program and one bad nuclear program. Why are we mobilizing against one [and] trying to forget the other?” questioned Amr Moussa.

“We want to be convinced that we are all moving towards a goal to rid the Middle East of all nuclear weapons,” he concluded.

General Amr Moussa believes that the Arab world has not been struck that hard by the global economic downturn and is trying hard to move on.

“I believe and hope the future is much brighter,” he said.