Support for amnesty program is sought

BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq is going to neighboring Saudi Arabia to seek support for his national reconciliation initiative from leaders of the kingdom, a government official said yesterday.

Maliki, a member of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, plans to discuss his program for bridging the Shi'ite-Sunni divide in Iraq with Saudi leaders today, said the Iraqi official, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Saudi Arabia is predominantly Sunni Muslim and Iraqi leaders hope outside support for the reconciliation initiative will help draw in Iraq's Sunni minority, which is the backbone of the insurgency.

Maliki's plan includes an amnesty for fighters, and the prime minister's office says it was indirectly contacted this week by 11 insurgent groups, some of which insisted that Saudi Arabia be an observer in peace talks.

The prime minister also will visit Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates today and will be accompanied by several ministers, said lawmaker Hassan al-Suneid, a member of Maliki's Dawa party.

Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said yesterday that he rejected the initiative, which does not set a timetable for the withdrawal of US-led foreign troops. ``We demand the occupation forces to leave the country or at least a timetable should be set for their withdrawal," Sadr said.

Animosities between Sunnis and Shi'ites have become a growing element of the country's bloodshed.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday approved a bounty of up to $5 million in exchange for information on Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the new face of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Masri is presumed to be the successor of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by an American bomb last month.

Osama bin Laden purportedly paid tribute to Zarqawi in a new audio message yesterday and vowed more attacks on the United States.