The Hindu : International : U.S. rules out Iraq withdrawal deadline

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004

International

International

U.S. rules out Iraq withdrawal deadline

By Ewen MacAskill

WAHINGTON, NOV. 23. The United States and Britain have fought off attempts by France, backed by some Arab countries, to use a special conference on Iraq today to draw up a timetable for the withdrawal of coalition troops.

Twenty-seven Foreign Ministers gathered last night for the conference at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss ways of preventing the disintegration of Iraq and supporting the interim Government of the Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi.

Support for poll

The conference members include Iraq's neighbours — Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait and Turkey — as well as the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China, the U.N., the E.U., the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

The meeting was originally framed to encourage Iraq's neighbours to do more to bolster the country.

But a communique, to be published later in the day, is expected to offer little more than support for the election on January 30.

All those present support elections but are divided over the withdrawal of the coalition forces. Countries such as France, which opposed the U.S.-led invasion, argue that the presence of U.S. and other international forces contributes towards the violence and a timetable should be set for them to leave.

Syria's Foreign Minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, toured the region trying to secure support for a withdrawal deadline. But the U.S. opposes any such move.

Instead, the draft communique said it would be left to the Iraqi Government when to request the U.S. and other members of the coalition to withdraw. In reality, it will be a U.S. decision.

A sop to Arabs

As a sop to France and the Arab countries, the draft includes a sentence reminding the U.S. its mandate is ``not open-ended''.

Although the conference is being held in Egypt, its President, Hosni Mubarak, is on a trip to Algeria and Spain to avoid being associated with a conference which he expects will not produce much.

Another contentious issue at the conference will be U.S. calls for Iran and Saudi Arabia to tighten up their borders and prevent people crossing to join the fight against the coalition. Last month, Syria responded to U.S. pressure to prevent fighters entering Iraq.

Thair al-Naqeeb, a spokesman for the Iraqi Government, said: ``We have documents and we have proof that indicate that some neighbouring countries are contributing to increasing the violence in Iraq''.

Although the militants are predominantly Iraqis, Saudis have defied their Government to cross the border to join them. The Saudi Government, anxious to play down this involvement, discourages media coverage of the deaths in Iraq of Saudi fighters. The Iraqi Government said at the weekend that the election would go ahead in January in spite of the violence. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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