Monday, July 16, 2007

UN Secretary General Ban: Iraq won't be a topic in meeting with Bush; 'I do not want to inject myself in issues of Iraq'

Left: A medic attends to a man wounded in today's car bombings in Kirkuk which killed at least 80 and wounded at least 140 more.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he has no intention to discuss US policy on Iraq when he meets with President George W Bush, who is under pressure from the Democrat-led US Congress to start winding down US involvement there.

Ban is scheduled to see Bush at the White House on Tuesday, the second meeting since he became UN secretary general in January.

He said he will discuss with Bush the situation Sudan's Darfur region, the UN plan leading to Kosovo independence that is opposed by Russia, the US financial support of the UN, and UN reform.

"I do not want to inject myself in issues of Iraq," Ban said in a press conference, adding that the international community should show "great caution" when dealing with the worsening conditions in Iraq.

Read the rest at EUX

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