No word from kidnappers of Egypt envoy in Baghdad
By Mariam Karouny
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Kidnappers who seized Egypt’s envoy toBaghdad over the weekend have yet to make contact with theauthorities or present any demands, Egyptian and Iraqiofficials said on Monday.
Two days after Ihab el-Sherif was snatched by gunmen from aBaghdad street no group had claimed responsibility for thekidnapping.
“No one contacted us yet,” an Egyptian diplomat toldReuters.
Iraq’s Interior Ministry said police were stillinvestigating the case. They found Sherif’s empty four-wheeldrive car on Sunday close to a news stand where diplomats saidhe had stopped to buy a paper.
Diplomats have speculated that Sherif was kidnapped byinsurgents to send a political message to Arab countries not tostrengthen ties with the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad.
Iraq had announced last week that Egypt would become thefirst Arab country to give its Baghdad envoy the full title ofambassador since U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein more thantwo years ago. Sherif was expected to take up that post,becoming the most senior Arab diplomat in the country.
Violence in Iraq, especially in the form of suicide bombattacks, has worsened sharply since a Shi’ite- and Kurdish-ledgovernment took power in April.
Washington is hoping to counter the Sunni Arab insurgencyin part by winning legitimacy for Baghdad’s government in thewider Arab world, where virtually all governments are led bySunnis. It hopes recalcitrant Sunni groups within Iraq willalso join the political process.
Iraq’s National Assembly, the Shi’ite- andKurdish-dominated parliament, welcomed 15 Sunni Arabs who willjoin a committee to write the country’s new constitution.
The committee, now expanded to 71 members, had previouslyincluded only two Sunni Arabs, as it was drawn from members ofparliament who were elected in January, when most Sunnisboycotted the vote.
A committee source told Reuters the committee had yet todecide when it would meet. It is expected to draft aconstitution by August 15, which will then be put to areferendum in October.
Bringing Sunnis into the political process is tricky, notleast because groups are varied and it is difficult toestablish who speaks on behalf of whom. That applies not onlyto peaceful political groups but also to the insurgency itself.
Two insurgent groups that have claimed responsibility inthe past for attacks on U.S. and Iraqi government forces, theIslamic Army in Iraq and the Mujahideen Army, said on Web sitesthat they had named an official spokesman.
Ibrahim Youssef al-Shammari made his debut as spokesman forthe groups on the al-Jazeera Arabic-language news channel. AU.S. embassy official said Washington was looking into thereport to assess its significance. (Additional reporting by Peter Graff in Baghdad and SamiAboudi in Dubai)