IRAQ: Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Mr Iyad Allawi, called on Muslim nations yesterday to join a proposed force of Islamic troops in Iraq.
This could shore up the US coalition and ease the need for troops from the United States, which said the force might also help protect possible United Nations operations.
However, analysts said the proposal has little chance of success given that Arab and Muslim leaders, facing public opposition over pro-US policies, have declined so far.
Mr Allawi met the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, in Saudi Arabia and expressed ... support for a Saudi proposal for Arab and Muslim nations other than Iraq's immediate neighbours to provide troops to help secure Iraq in the face of a fierce insurgency.
"This is a global war. These are forces of evil who are acting against us," Mr Allawi told reporters after he and Mr Powell had met for about an hour. "I call upon the leaders of the Islamic countries and the Arab countries to close ranks."
In a separate development yesterday, Saudi Arabia agreed to pay a $1 billion development aid pledge to Iraq soon, the Iraqi Planning Minister, Mr Mehdi al-Hafidh, said.
"Saudi Arabia agreed to transfer the money and to use it on specific projects," he said in Abu Dhabi.
Last October Saudi Arabia announced a $1 billion financing package for Iraq that included $500 million in project finance and $500 million as an export facility.
A deployment by Muslim nations would be a public relations coup for the United States, which has seen the US-led coalition in Iraq reduced by the withdrawal of troops from the Philippines, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras.
Mr Allawi said that the force would not include Iraq's neighbours - Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, Syria and Turkey - but would rely on Asian and African Muslim countries to contribute.
"We look forward to the contribution from the Arab and Islamic states, with the exception of the neighbouring states, in order . . . to secure this region," Mr Allawi said.
One Gulf official said the proposal was mainly aimed at protecting personnel and operations of the United Nations, which pulled out of Iraq after a bombing destroyed its Baghdad headquarters and killed 22 people in August.
Mr Powell also suggested that the force could protect the UN, although it was unclear if this would appeal to Saudis who envisage a Muslim contribution as replacing the 140,000 US troops in Iraq.
The idea met a muted reception from potential contributors and a fresh warning from militants keen to ward them off.
Pakistan said it had discussed sending troops to Iraq as part of an Islamic force but had made no decision.
Speculation that Pakistan would commit troops mounted this month, but such a move would be hugely unpopular at home.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, was cool on the proposal.
"The only scenario wherein we will contemplate contributing our troops would be if such a force was to be a UN blue beret peacekeeping force under UN command," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Egypt also said earlier it had no plans to send troops to Iraq.
Islamist militants threatened to attack participants. "We will not remain silent if troops are sent to Iraq by any Arab or Muslim country, especially by Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt and others," said the statement by a group calling itself the Islamic Tawhid Group, posted on an Islamic website.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, with suspected links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, had earlier also threatened to attack troops and nationals of Muslim countries helping the coalition.
No Arab nations are now in the US-led coalition.
After a brief lull following the US handover of sovereignty on June 28th, guerrillas have stepped up bombings, killings and kidnappings to undermine Mt Allawi.
In the latest violence, a minibus packed with explosives blew up near a police station and a market north of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 70 people and wounding 30.
Mr Allawi said terrorism threatened countries throughout the region and they "must stand as one group against those gangs, against those terrorists and those criminals".
Mr Powell said a new Muslim force could serve as part of the coalition or as a partially independent separate entity.
Over the past 15 months, nationals from a score of countries have been kidnapped in Iraq, often now by militants seeking to put pressure on governments and foreign companies to pull out.
(Reuters)