The chairman of the world's largest grouping of Islamic nations yesterday urged the US to introduce a Security Council resolution granting the UN "a central role" in Iraq.
Opening an emergency meeting of Islamic states, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned that the deteriorating situation in Iraq and in Palestinian territories threatened stability in the Middle East.
"The situation in Palestine and Iraq has become extremely alarming," Abdullah said.
"The latest developments are threatening the stability and integrity of both, as well as the peace and security of neighboring countries," he said.
Some countries from the 57-strong Organization of the Islamic Conference arrived at the one-day session saying they might send troops to protect the UN if the world body returns to Iraq. The UN pulled its staff from Iraq in October after two bombings at the UN headquarters in Baghdad.
Delegates condemned the latest violence in Iraq -- suicide bombings Wednesday that killed at least 68 people in the southern city of Basra -- and suggested they added urgency to the deliberations.
"Such terrorist acts should be eradicated from the whole world, not just Iraq," Iraqi delegate Ghasann Mohsen said.
"It should be faced with a strong will from the international community, the OIC, the Arab League, the UN -- all international organizations," Mohsen said.
In his speech, Abdullah said: "The hopes and expectations of the international community which followed the ending of the war against Iraq on May 1, 2003 have not been met.
"Gone are the joy and jubilation of some Iraqis (at) the collapse of the regime of [former Iraqi president] Saddam Hussein," he said.
"What we see today is nothing less than the fierce resistance of people against what is increasingly seen as an occupation force. The situation in Iraq is indeed dangerous," he said.
Abdullah also denounced Israel's assassinations of Hamas leaders Shek Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi as part of efforts to stop attacks on Israelis, saying the assassinations meant that relations between Israelis and Palestinians had "never been more precarious."
He criticized Israel's US-backed plan to unilaterally withdraw from some, but not all, Palestinian territories without negotiating details of the pullout.
He urged Washington to initiate a UN Security Council resolution granting the world body greater authority in Iraq, but gave no details.
"The time has arrived for the international community to give serious consideration to giving the UN a central role in the affairs of Iraq," he said.
The meeting was called at short notice in response to this month's surge in violence between US troops and insurgents in Iraq and the White House's backing of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for "unilateral disengagement" from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.
Of the 20 delegations at the meeting, only Pakistan, Indonesia and the Palestinians sent foreign ministers. Other countries are represented by lower-level officials.
After Abdullah's speech, delegates entered closed-doors talks -- one session on the Palestinian issue and another on Iraq.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid, who was chairing the meeting, said Wednesday he hoped for a statement that would urge the UN to play "the leading role" in Iraq after the June 30 deadline when US administrators say they will hand power back to Iraqis.
The possibility of Islamic countries sending troops for a US-proposed force to protect UN staff and facilities in Iraq is not on the agenda.
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