Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called for national reconciliation on Saturday, opening the door for former opponents to return home as he struggles to form a new government seven months after elections.
"We must … turn a new page with all those who have gone too far and made mistakes," he told a conference of tribal chiefs in Baghdad in a speech broadcast on state television.
"I do not mean those who have blood on their hands, but those who object to the political process," he added.
"We can say that what happened has happened and those who made mistakes made mistakes, but the door to return to the country is open," Maliki said.
"We forgive and turn the page because the country cannot be built on the basis of hatred and rancour."
His remarks were seen as an olive branch to former members of executed dictator Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party, many of them living in exile and opposed to the current regime.
They come amid a political impasse that has persisted since March 7 elections in which Maliki's Shiite bloc finished a narrow second behind the Sunni-dominated Iraqiya group of ex-premier Iyad Allawi.
Since then, Maliki has joined forces with parliament's third party, also Shiite, to form a coalition. But he still remains 30 seats short of the legislative majority necessary to form a government.
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