Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Baghdad (Fides Agency) - “A very important step for the creation of a free and independent Iraq, fully re-inserted into the international community”: this is how Fr Nizar Semaan, a Syrian priest from Mosul, welcomed the launch of the new Iraqi government speaking to Fides Agency. “One fact immediately draws one’s attention: the presence of six women in the new executive, something completely new for all countries in the area” says Fr Nizar.
“New president Ghazi Yawer belongs to one of the best known and most esteemed Iraqi tribes. In Mosul, his home town, people were celebrating on the streets, and congratulated the father of the new President”, says Fr Nizar. “No one in the new government is compromised with the violence of the past regime; there are no extremists among them. Even those belonging to Islamic parties are moderates”.
“We shall accompany the work of the new government with our prayers. We know the road ahead of us is still long and difficult, and terrorists shall continue and sow death and destruction, but this shall not exhaust the Iraqi people’s determination to go back to a normal life”, concludes Fr Nizar. (L.M.) (Fides Agency 2/6/2004, lines 19 words 217)
