Arab nations ask UNSC for meeting on Iraq

Arab nations ask UNSC for meeting on Iraq

Agence France-Presse, Doha

Arab nations have asked the UN Security Council to convene an urgent meeting with a view to halting the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Arab League envoy to the world body said on Tuesday.

Yahya al-Mahmasani, speaking to Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite television channel, said Arab states had asked the council to "quickly hold a meeting focussing on the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq".

Their request follows an Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Monday which condemned the "U.S.-British aggression against Iraq" and called for "the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the invasion forces". Only Kuwait failed to endorse the resolution.

It was delivered in a letter to Guinean envoy Mamady Traore, whose country currently holds the council's rotating presidency. Mahmasani said Traore would now consult with the council's 14 other members.

He said Arab states wanted the council to bring "an end to the conflict, a withdrawal of the invading forces and to preserve the integrity and independence of Iraq".

The Arab foreign ministers had said if the council failed to act on their request, they would ask for the UN General Assembly to convene instead.

The Cairo resolution was a direct snub to the United States, which issued a last minute appeal to Arab states to accept the invasion of Iraq and ouster of Saddam Hussein as inevitable and look forward to a reconstruction of the country.

However, Kuwait, which is hosting large numbers of U.S. troops involved in the war, had wanted the resolution to also condemn the Iraqi missile attacks on the emirate.