Iraq to seek Arab engagement at Kuwait meeting

By Dean Yates

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will press Arab nations later his month to stop "sitting on the fence" and post ambassadors to Baghdad, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Sunday.

There is virtually no senior representative from any Arab country in Baghdad. Visits by top Arab officials are also rare.

"There will be a request ... for the Arab countries to re-establish their embassies and their diplomatic missions here, to reach out to Iraq," Zebari said in an interview.

He said he would ask Arab nations to engage more with Baghdad at a regional ministerial meeting on Iraq to be held in Kuwait on April 22.

"It's no good complaining about the expanded Iranian influence here, or criticizing the situation or being uncomfortable with the political process and so on and at the same time sitting on the fence."

The United States has urged Sunni Arab states to beef up embassies in Baghdad as a sign of support for the Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

On Friday the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, chided Arab nations for not doing more to help the country and suggested greater Arab diplomatic engagement with Iraq would help counterbalance influence of neighboring Shi'ite Iran.

The Kuwait meeting will be a follow-on from gatherings of Iraq's neighbors as well as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council that were held in Turkey and Egypt last year.