BRITAIN: US-sponsored talks among Iraqi opposition groups held outside London yesterday failed to agree a formula for a government that could replace the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Despite intense US pressure, the 25 disparate parties gathered in a Surrey hotel were unable to decide what sort of government should be installed to fill the vacuum left by the ousting of the present dictatorship.
"We cannot agree this in advance, I do not think so," said one observer of the talks, who refused to be identified.
Washington has sponsored these London talks, anxious to show the world that a new, democratic, government is ready to fall into place following their promised "regime change" in Bagdad.
Secrecy at the meeting is such that even hotel staff have no idea what is taking place beneath their roof.
Journalists are forbidden to meet with delegates and harassed US officials ask reporters to leave the hotel premises: "There is nothing to see," one told this correspondent.