Iraq PM assures jobs for Sunni anti-Qaeda fighters

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited the Sunni bastion of Adhamiyah in Baghdad on Wednesday and promised to offer jobs to Sunni Arabs who were fighting Al-Qaeda there.

Maliki was participating in a function in the northern Baghdad neighbourhood to mark the birth anniversary of prophet Mohammed.

This was his first visit since he became the premier in 2006 to Adhamiyah, a bastion of Sunni Arabs loyal to executed dictator Saddam Hussein and a former Al-Qaeda insurgent stronghold.

Maliki, whose visit is seen as a major step to boost national reconciliation in Iraq, said the government will "open the doors of all the establishments to welcome" the men who are fighting Al-Qaeda.

"I am proud of the efforts of the sons of this...