The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic is deeply concerned about the latest escalation of attacks by illegal militia and extremist groups against foreign experts and coalition troops in Iraq, aimed at plunging the country into chaos and preventing the transfer of power to democratically elected institutions.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic fully supports the determination of the international coalition to stabilize the security situation in Iraq and to accomplish the country's reconstruction, and greatly appreciates the immense human and material sacrifice of the coalition forces. Iraq's stability and development is not only an internal affair of the country and the coalition forces but of the whole world community. The Czech Republic therefore calls on all countries of the world, and especially on Iraq's neighbours, to actively support the efforts of the coalition in these critical moments, when unity and determination are needed. The Czech Republic is determined to continue, within its capacities, its participation in the process of reconstruction and stabilization of Iraq.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic also calls on Iraqi political and religious representatives and all Iraqi citizens to make every effort to put an end to violence and to avert the threat of civil war, and to support, irrespective of their ethnic origin or religion, the efforts of the Iraqi Governing Council and the Coalition Provisional Authority to build in Iraq a free and prosperous society based on democratic principles.


unofficial translation