Allawi makes surprise visit to Saudi Arabia following trip to Kuwait

Ayad Allawi after addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Allawi was the interim Prime Minister of Iraq prior to the 2005 legislative elections. He has formed a new political block, with the goal of replacing Maliki as Prime Minister. Towards that end, he is seeking the support of neighboring countries.

Riyadh/Cairo (dpa) - Iyad Allawi, former Iraqi premier and founder of a coalition party with 25 seats in parliament, arrived in the Saudi capital Tuesday for an unexpected visit.

His arrival comes in the wake of Kurdish President Massoud Barzani's visit to Riyadh Monday.

The official Saudi news agency said that Saudi General Intelligence Head Prince Muqrin Bin Abdel-Aziz had received the Iraqi leader at the airport, but did not provide any further details.

Senior diplomatic sources said on condition of anonymity that Allawi was scheduled to meet with King Abdullah Bin Abdel-Aziz and Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

Allawi visited Kuwait on Monday and, according to the official Kuwaiti news agency, was hoping that Arab countries would broker a peace plan to put a stop to the sectarian violence surging across Iraq which was a "result of years of built-up frustrations."

According to the agency, Allawi said that violence could seep into other countries if it was not controlled in Iraq.

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