Arab League (AL) Assistant Secretary General Ahmed Bin Helli said on Monday that all Iraqis, including those followers of toppled president Saddam Hussein, should be allowed to take part in the upcoming national reconciliation plan, reported Egypt's official MENA news agency.

The new Iraqi government under Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is expected to hold a national reconciliation conference in Baghdadin early August with support from the Cairo-based AL.

Bin Helli was quoted as saying that the AL will invite representatives from all Iraqi factions, even those who were in the Saddam regime and those who were in the former army, to participate in the conference.

The reconciliation conference was originally planned on June 20, but it was postponed due to continuing violence in the troubled country and stalled political process.

Prime Minister al-Maliki presented a 24-point national reconciliation plan to the parliament on June 25, which included amnesty for all Iraqis who were not involved in killing innocent Iraqis, including the Sunni Arab insurgency.

But he warned that the killers would not escape justice and al-Qaida linked militants and loyalists of Saddam Hussein were excluded from the plan.

(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2006)