Iraqi factions meet for talks in Finland: organisers

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

HELSINKI (AFP) — Representatives from Iraq's main ethnic groups have met in Finland to study reconciliation processes in Northern Ireland and South Africa in a bid to find a framework for justice and human rights in Iraq, the hosts said Saturday.

"Senior leaders from all the major ethnic groups are represented," a spokesman for the Finnish non-profit organisation Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), Mikko Autti, told AFP.

A total of 36 Iraqis were taking part in the Seminar on Divided Societies, in addition to representatives from South Africa and Northern Ireland, Autti said.

Neither the names of the participants nor the location or duration of the talks were revealed.

The closed-door seminar is a follow-up to a first round of talks held in September...