Iraqi clerics laud Japan role; National congress delayed

By: Khadija Chinese

TOKYO, Japan: The first meeting of the Iraqi National Congress was pushed back a day to allow more time for the nationwide selection of its 1,000 delegates, official sources said Tuesday.

The congress, delayed until Thursday, will elect 100 members of a legislative council that will have limited power and the duty of monitoring the Iraqi interim government under Iyad Allawi.

Reports circulated in Baghdad Tuesday that the congress's preparatory committee banned more than 80 small parties from representation in the congress.

Followers of cleric Moqtada Sadr and the Higher Committee for Muslim Ulemas said they will boycott the congress in protest of the method used to choose the delegates.

In Tokyo, a group of visiting Iraqi religious leaders expressed gratitude for Japan's reconstruction efforts in their country and asked for further support in the fields of medicine, electricity and the media.

During a meeting with Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, members of the Inter-religious Council of Iraq, an organization of Shiites, Sunnis and Christians, voiced hope that Japanese firms and citizens' groups will come to Iraq to help rebuild the nation, according to a ministry official.

Seyed Hassan Bahralulom asked Kawaguchi that Japan help improve medical services for children in Iraq and assist electricity suppliers and media organizations, the official said.

Kawaguchi said the Self-Defense Forces deployed to the southern Iraq city of Samawah engage in humanitarian aid activities and Tokyo has pledged to provide $5 billion in aid by the end of 2007. She thanked the religious leaders for their efforts when five Japanese nationals were briefly held hostage in Iraq.

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