Iraq Sunni VP "comforted" by recent govt talks

BAGHDAD, May 10 (Reuters) Iraq's Sunni vice president is ''comforted'' by recent meetings with political leaders aimed at advancing national reconciliation and addressing minority Sunni Arab concerns, his office said today.

Tareq al-Hashemi and other senior figures from Iraq's largest Sunni Arab bloc in parliament had warned they might quit the government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki if their grievances were ignored.

Such a move would be disastrous for the Shi'ite-led government, both for defusing the Sunni Arab insurgency but also in trying to represent Iraq's main sects and ethnic groups.

But a surprise visit by US Vice President Dick Cheney to Iraq appears to have helped soften the Sunni Arab stance.

Yesterday, Cheney held roundtable talks with Hashemi, Maliki and President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd.

''Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi was comforted by the results of recent meetings with political officials that witnessed intense political movement,'' a statement from his office said without elaborating on what that movement was.

''(Hashemi) described it as a step in the right direction, even though there is still a long way to go to resolve all the diffences.'' Sunnis want to increase their representation in Iraq's security forces and soften laws that prohibit thousands of members of Saddam Hussein's former Sunni-dominated Baath Party from playing a role in public life.

They also want a fair share of revenues from Iraq's vast oil reserves, which lie mainly in Shi'ite and Kurdish areas.

US officials, facing growing impatience with the war at home, have urged Iraqi leaders to step up efforts at reconciliation between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs who were dominant under Saddam.

REUTERS DS RK1738