McGuinness to advise Iraqis on making peace

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad Martin McGuinness, the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and a former commander of the IRA, arrives in Baghdad tomorrow to promote Northern Ireland as a model for reconciliation between Iraq's embattled Shia and Sunni communities. The unlikely peacemaker's visit follows two rounds of meetings in Helsinki at which politicians from Northern Ireland and South Africa explained to representatives of Iraqi factions how their experiences might help in ending the conflict. Mr McGuinness will attend a meeting at the heavily defended al-Rashid Hotel on the edge of the Green Zone where he will release details of an agreement reached under the auspices of a Helsinki-based conflict resolution organisation. The visiting Northern Irish and South African politicians may not immediately realise that... [read full story]