Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    HELSINKI, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis began to arrive in Finland on Friday for the talks between the two factions, to be mediated by the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) headed by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari.

    According to a Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) report, participants flew in from Jordan by private aircraft. The report said the talks would begin later in the day, but no one was immediately available to confirm it.

    The CMI has kept silent about the venue of the meeting, and Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president and head of the CMI, will not be present at the talks.

    The talks will be attended by representatives of radical Shiiteleader Muqtada al-Sadr and Sunni opposition politician Adnanal-Duleimi, according to the YLE.

    A representative of the largest Shiite party, the SCIRI, will also attend along with Chairman of the Iraqi Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Humam Hammoudi. They will be joined by representatives involved in the peace processes in South Africa and Northern Ireland.

    The primary aim of the seminar-style gathering is to sound out the possibilities of a peace dialogue on the basis of the peace processes in South Africa and Northern Ireland.