Baghdad, July 24 (ANI): United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon arrived in Baghdad on Thursday for talks with Iraqi leaders on the ongoing fighting with the Islamic State and formation of a new Iraqi government. Ban, who has been on a Middle East tour to seek an end to the fighting in Gaza, is expected to hold a joint news conference with Iraq_s Shi_ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and meet with the new Speaker of Iraq_s parliament Salim al-Jibouri. The advance by Sunni Islamist militants who seized swathes of northern Iraq last month has put the OPEC oil producer_s survival in jeopardy. Ban also condemned _in the strongest terms_ the systematic persecution of minority populations in Iraq by Islamic State (IS) and associated armed groups.
