IRAQ: The US won Saudi backing yesterday for its plan to stabilise Iraq, but Washington's Gulf ally said success depended on Baghdad tackling sectarian strife, which was driving the country towards civil war.
As part of her Arab tour to lobby support for the new US plan, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice arrived in Kuwait from Riyadh and began a meeting with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Gulf Arab states.
Many Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, fear the plan announced by US president George Bush to stabilise Iraq would lead to an early departure of US troops from Iraq, leaving the country moving towards a civil war that might spill beyond Iraq's borders.
"We agree fully with the goals set by the new strategy, which in our view are the goals that - if implemented - would solve the problems that face Iraq," Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a joint news conference in Riyadh. But, he said, the Iraqi government needed to play its part.
"[ The government] must stop the resistance, bring everyone into the political process and realise the hopes of the people," he said, adding that Shia militias must be disbanded and the US-backed constitution, seen as pro-Shia, revised. "Implementation [ of US strategy] requires a positive response by the Iraqis themselves to these goals . . . other countries can help, but the main responsibility in taking decisions rests on the Iraqis," Prince Saud said.
The US administration has been urging Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to play a greater role in backing Iraq.
In Kuwait, Dr Rice was meeting the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and the six members of the Gulf Co-operation Council - Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - to try to forge a common position on Iraq.
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, fears an early US troop withdrawal would solidify Shia power and leave minority Sunnis at the mercy of Shia militias.
Dr Rice, who met King Abdullah on Monday night, acknowledged the Saudi concern about militias, but raised the issue of Saudi debt relief for Iraq, which Washington says would be a big help.
"We will continue to work with the Iraqi government to make sure networks running dangerous militias are stopped . . . the financial issue will need to be worked out," Dr Rice said.
"We have the same goal, which is an Iraq unified with its integrity and territory intact which doesn't face outside interference," she said.
The Saudi minister declined to say what Riyadh would do if the new US strategy failed to stabilise the country, though he rejected suggestions that Saudi Arabia would use oil as a political tool to pressure Iran over its policies in the region.
Both Washington and Riyadh accuse Iran of encouraging militia violence in Iraq. US forces are holding five Iranians after raiding an Iranian government office in the Iraqi city of Arbil last week - the second such operation in Iraq in the past few weeks.
A Saudi official said on Monday that Iran had asked Saudi Arabia to help ease tensions between the Islamic Republic and the US, as Washington held out the possibility of "engagement" with Tehran if it changed tack in Iraq. - (Reuters)