Anti-Saddam summit set for London
Iraqi opposition groups are to meet in London next month to discuss their role in any post-Saddam Hussein nation.
About 300 participants from exiled Iraqi opposition groups, Arab and European states and the permanent members of the UN Security Council have been invited to attend the December 13-15 conference.
Iraqis opposed to Saddam see the meeting – to be held under US auspices – as a vital step in establishing a democratic, pluralist government in the event the Iraqi leader is toppled by American-led forces.
London-based Hamed al-Bayati, of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, said more than 50 Iraqi opposition groups and organisations have been invited to participate in the conference.
“We have prepared working papers for the conference on the transitional period and future of Iraq. We agreed on the establishment of a democratic, constitutional regime based on pluralism and federalism,” he said in Cairo.
The conference was first set for Brussels but never got off the ground, partly because the Belgian government was unhappy about hosting a gathering dedicated to Saddam’s overthrow while the Security Council had committed itself to Iraq’s disarmament through UN inspections.
Differences between opposition groups over the conference agenda and delegate numbers have also plagued preparations, causing the meeting to be postponed three times since early September.
Sectarian, ethnic, tribal and political divisions separate the groups, and rivalries have grown more intense with the prospect of a US-led war to oust Saddam.
