UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged key players in Iraq on Friday to keep violence down and to put aside party, ethnic and sectarian interests so a real political dialogue and national reconciliation can take place.

In his quarterly report to the Security Council, Ban said that the Iraqi government faces formidable challenges to reaching agreement on how to share power and resources.

“While some initial steps towards national reconciliation in Iraq have begun, more needs to be done to help Iraqi communities resolve fundamental issues that divide them,” he said.

Ban cited disputes over internal borders, power sharing, and the sharing of the country’s vast oil resources.

“Once again, I urge influential figures and political parties to publicly reinforce the need for — and to personally work towards — political dialogue, compromise and recognition that Iraq’s future depends on its leaders pursuing the Iraqi national interest, rather than individual, party, ethnic or sectarian interests,” he said.

Ban said he was deeply concerned that despite Iraq’s oil resources, many Iraqis live in poverty. He urged the country to agree on a hydrocarbon law.

“However, to maximize the reconciliation potential of this law, it will almost certainly need to be accompanied — or swiftly followed — by a broader national compact on power-sharing in the country,” he said.

On the issue of violence, he said the United Nations welcomes the extension of the freeze on military activities by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army “as a positive step” and the end of fighting in the southern city of Basra as a result of a compromise agreement.

“I urge all concerned to do everything possible to maintain the current decrease in violent conflict,” he said.

But Ban also expressed concern about the continued violence. “More disturbing is the renewed propensity for mass-casualty attacks using suicide vests and vehicle bombs, particularly in Baghdad,” Ban said. “This trend is believed to be the result of re-engagement by specialized insurgent groups, such as the Islamic State of Iraq, who claim affiliation with al-Qaida in Iraq.”

The Security Council is scheduled to hold an open meeting on Iraq on Monday.

Ban said that as part of a U.N. program to expand operations, the organization has started sending liaison officers to each governorate of Iraq — with the first nine deployed in March.

The U.N. mission has also put together a team to focus on the new mandate to help resolve disputed internal boundaries which has made visits to several areas, he said.

The U.N. mission continues to provide electoral, constitutional and humanitarian assistance, Ban said.