US Secretary of State makes surprise visit to Iraq

MOSUL, Iraq - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Iraq yesterday to try to reduce sectarian tensions just five weeks before elections.

The top US diplomat's trip was kept secret because of security concerns until she landed in Mosul, northern Iraq, where she was set to be briefed by the US ambassador to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, and US military officials over US efforts to stabilise Iraq ahead of the December 15 elections.

Sectarian tension between the once-dominant Sunni Arab minority and the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led government have dominated the election campaign.

Rice, who flew in from Bahrain, said her main goal was to urge Iraq's diverse political parties to reach across sectarian lines and create a single country where everyone felt "fully protected".

"The United States is not going to support any particular political candidate," Rice told reporters travelling with her.

"I want to talk about the importance of reaching across the sectarian divide, and the future of Iraq has to be one which includes everyone," added Rice, who is in the region as part of a broader visit to the Middle East and Asia.

Rice said she delivered the same message of unity to Iraqi deputy prime minister Ahmad Chalabi during her meeting with him in Washington this week.

The visit to Iraq, her second this year, comes as US public and congressional support is waning for the US-led war in which more than 2000 troops have died and many thousands more have been wounded.

Washington fears that the marginalisation of the Sunnis, many of whom opposed last month's referendum on a new constitution, would fuel the insurgency and further destabilise the country, keeping US troops there longer.

Sunnis are expected to vote in large numbers for the first time next month after boycotting the first post-Saddam Hussein vote in January.

Rice, who has consistently refused to provide any timeline for troops to leave Iraq, said the Bush administration's strategy was to clear the toughest areas of insurgents, keep those places secure and build durable Iraqi institutions.

"More and more Iraqis are seeing their future in politics and not in violence," she said.

Rice and a small group of senior state department officials arrived in Mosul wearing body armour and helmets and flew from the airport in heavily armed helicopters.

She chose the city as an example of an area where security was improving. Flying in the cockpit of a US military aircraft, she commented to reporters that she had wanted to visit Mosul in May but that it had been too difficult.

Rice strongly condemned the killing of members of deposed president Saddam's judicial defence team and said it was another indication of how "these violent people" were trying to disrupt political processes using high-level assassinations.

Iraq's national assembly is charged with appointing a four- year government and would be able to make changes to the constitution.

Rice said she hoped the new government would be more stable than the interim Iraqi administration formed after the US-led invasion in March 2003 and she urged it to make the ministries more competent and accept outside help to reform institutions.

Iraqi government sources said she would later fly to Baghdad and would likely meet Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari at his headquarters in the heavily fortified "Green Zone" in the centre of the battled-scarred capital. US officials declined to comment on Rice's movements, citing security concerns.

- REUTERS