Iraqi FM casts doubt on Annan's Iraq conference

Iraq's foreign minister on Sunday cast doubt on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for an international conference on ways to end the sectarian strife threatening to tear apart the country. Annan said last week an international conference on Iraq would be beneficial if the groundwork was carefully prepared and all the political parties could be brought together somewhere outside the country. On Sunday though, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari questioned the aim of the Annan's suggestion. "Is it to take the political process back to square one and review all that done in the past three years? If this the aim, then we reject it," Zebari told reporters in Cairo.